Steel Will
by Snapers
Summary: After being sealed for the third time, the Kyuubi is loosing hope in being free... in a moment of desperation he decides to pull an Orochimaru and 'tweak' Narutos DNA. Unlocking something with potential to surpass the famed Wood Release of the first Hokage... "As a blacksmith uses heat to temper steel, so should a trial by fire strengthen one's will." Steel Release.
1. Chapter 1

**Nothin is mine.**

* * *

**Steel Will**

* * *

A loud sigh echoed in darkness

The owner of said sigh was none other then the **Kyuubi No Kitsune****(Nine Tailed Fox).**

Yet again was he captured, and yet again was he sealed. His few seconds of freedom was unfortunately (for him) gone.

After years trapped inside a human he was finally released, only to be put under control of some madman. Afterwards he got sealed by his previous prison and the Hokage. The leader of the village he attacked.

Of course it took the death god, the Shinigami to seal him and those two blasted humans are dead.

He has decided those two are on his top 5 dessert menu.

And he was sealed inside there son. Just to spite him.

He couldn't even kill the brat. He tried to overload the kid with his chakra, but the seal was tighter then steel and it wasn't going to break soon.

It will take years for the seal to weaken and all he can do is watch.

Though there was one interesting thing... he was never sealed into a child before. The body wasn't set in stone, he was free to 'modify' the child to his pleasing.

'_Short with a small brain_' he thought with a smirk. The smirk soon changed into a thoughtful look.

The seal was a **Hakke Fūin(Eight Triagram Seal)**, Extremely strong. If he made the boy weak he would probably die and the painful process of being reformed would start.

Maybe a little 'tweaking' is necessary.

He's heard that his siblings give there hosts some cool powers. He might as well with that damn seal.

**Hakke Fūin**... Strong as steel...

Steel...

For the sake of science.


	2. Chapter 2

**Nothin is mine.**

* * *

**Steel Will**

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Shibo Jaku stared at his window in contempt.

No, the windows in his appliance stores are not broken, he could see the fake signs promising discounts on them just fine.

He subconsciously scratched his giant belly as he stared.

Bright blue eyes stared back.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto stared in awe, he couldn't believe it... right there in front of him. At the end of a store he was never allowed to go into was his dream.

A **Yukiguni Reizoko**(Snow Country Fridge)** Model 5000.**

He didn't need the ice box. He had enough instant ramen to sustain his 6 year old body. It was something much deeper then just food.

It was a stainless steel fridge.

Some may ask 'whats so special about a steel fridge?'

He would punch anyone who said that

He doesn't know where his love with metal came from. Ever since he could remember he had a strange obsession with it.

Also ramen... Ramen is life.

Naruto shook his head as he walked closer to the store. The fat man behind the counter would never let him in. But he could see just fine from the window.

Metal was so... unique. Shiny, bendy, smooth, and thin along with all different shapes and sizes. But there was something even more important about it.

It was strong, no matter what shape or form it was in, strength was always there.

Naruto thought he was like that.

He always felt a fascination in metal. From when he grabbed kunai from a chuunin (who then proceeded to throw many of them at him). To when he refused to let go of the ANBU who watched him (dog if hes right) because of his metal chest armor. He even found his way into the orphanage kitchen and started playing with the knives in there.

Of course the caretaker kicked him out after that, screaming that some demon would kill her.

The current Hokage (some old fart) ended up gave him his own apartment, much to his own joy. It even had its own kitchen set. When he found that out he soon declared the Hokage the best guy ever much to his confusion.

When he was caught stealing from the ninja academies armory for kunai and shuriken the knives where taken away. Along with being suspended from the academy, making him miss the test and fail the year.

Now he was outside a high end store staring at the new fridge they had.

He ignored the shopkeepers glare at him and waited.

Soon a customer asked for help and the fat man left.

That was his chance! He went into the store and made a beeline for the fridge.

He slowly felt it, a shudder going through him. It was 67% aluminum with the other 33% being carbon. A small frown soon came to his face.

_'it's not even steel'._ He thought.

Loud footsteps made him turn around.

It was the shopkeeper looking him. Naruto saw his face morph into a deep fury and he stomped toward his counter.

"HELP THIEF!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. Naruto was confused, how can a six year old steal a fridge? Let alone one as big as the one he was touching.

The fat man reached behind the counter and pulled out a wooden stick/club.

He soon ran at Naruto with all the speed he could muster. Like a cheetah.

A legless cheetah with a prosthetic.

Naruto, being a small boy, felt intimidated by the much bigger man in front of him. In a moment of fear his instincts kicked in and he quickly swiped his hand off of the fridge and towards the man.

To both there surprises a beam of metal shot out of the fridge and continued into the fat mans gut.

The man collapsed and Naruto stared at the beam starting from the fridge door and ending halfway across the store.

Naruto glanced at the window and saw the police coming.

He ran out the back door.

Nobody caught him.


	3. Chapter 3

**I own nothin**

* * *

**Steel Will**

**Chapter 3**

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen the** Sandaime Hokage( Third Hokage) **sighed.

It's been a long day for his old bones.

It first started when a chuunin came to him and told him something strange happened. He immediately went just to get out of all the work he had to do.

He was Hokage because he kicked ass, and now he signs papers all day.

* * *

He wished he would've stayed in his office.

He stared at the fridge with a sharp eye. His nickname was the professor because of his powerful mind.

But this stumped him.

He could tell that someone manipulated the metal of the fridge and made a spire like thing shoot out at the stores owner.

The owner hit his head when he came down and ended up unconscious.

His headache grew when the owner came to, he asked him who it was and for some strange reason he knew the dreaded answer.

"Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto did this to me"

* * *

Hiruzen was now in the state of the art Konoha R&amp;D division. Nobody really knows where this is and that was a good thing.

The things in here should never be stolen.

The piece of metal had to be cut by one of his Jonin, the highest rank a normal ninja could have, he had to channel a **Katon Juts****u****(Fir****e**** technique) **to slowly cut the piece of metal off without destroying it.

The worst part was that he was Naruto's legal guardian since he was kicked out of the orphanage.

He had to buy the fridge, you break it you buy it.

He could already feel his savings drop. Even the Hokage, the leader of the village, didn't get a discount.

He watched with curiosity as multiple scientists poked Naruto's creation.

He watched as a scientist put a chakrameter on it, the dial shot up, he concluded that the metal was saturated with Naruto's chakra.

Naruto

The son of Minato Namikaze the **Yondaime(Fourth) **Hokage and Kushina Uzumaki, the previous container of the Kyuubi.

He put the boy up for an early enrollment to the academy.

Many of the legends today were enrolled early.

Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Itachi, even his students the **Densetsu no Sannin(Legendary Three Ninja) **all graduated at a young age.

With the Naruto's lineage he was sure to become a great ninja, it was in his DNA.

But he was wrong, Naruto didn't live up to his fathers reputation, probably because he was six.

Hiruzen knew he shouldn't compare Naruto to such powerful figures, but whenever he looked at the boy he saw Kushina's mischievous smile, or when he rubbed his neck in embarrassment like Minato did. He couldn't help it.

Hiruzen heard a scientist spit out a theory.

Chakra metal.

Most ninja tools where made out of a lightweight sturdy alloy made of a mix of metals.

Chakra metal was different, it was metal that could channel the flow of chakra through it.

They were sharper, dulled slower, flew faster, and could cut further. Perfect weapons for the ninja life.

Of course the way it's acquired is a bit difficult.

In Konoha, being in the middle of the fire country, made it difficult to come across chakra metal.

Land of Earth had it, so did Lightning, and Water. But that was for a reason.

Chakra metal was once original metal, but chakra seeped through the ground to it and ended up saturating it. It could take years to do that.

So places where big battles happened like the land of Earth of even Iron country has a lot of underground deposits.

But it could be made in a village. The best example was the sword of the second Hokage the **Raijen No Ken(****Sword of the Thunder God). **It was once a piece of metal, but the second and Mito Uzumaki, the wife of the **Shodai(First)** Hokage, made it into a lethal weapon.

They first they placed a bunch or chakra storage seals on it and left it to sit.

It marinated the blade in chakra saturating it and forming chakra metal. Once it was saturated they took a bunch of shinobi of the lightning affinity and practically bled them dry of chakra, nearly killing them, but successfully making the blade lightning oriented.

They then placed a seal that absorbed nature chakra, the chakra all life creates, to power the blade.

And finally the blade absorbs the users chakra, the wielders chakra would stabilize the blade and give it form.

That took years of development.

And Naruto made something similar in a few seconds.

If Naruto could make chakra metal with his free will he could revolutionize Konoha.

And be the target for every nation in the world.


	4. Chapter 4

**i dont own anythin**

* * *

**Steel Will**

**Chapter 4**

* * *

**So I heard there was some mistakes, I'll try to fix them, but its different trying to proof read your own writing. pointing out some issues is helpful.**

* * *

_"Just remember that you unique, just like everyone else in the world"_

_\- Kakashi Hatake's idea of a motivational __speech._

* * *

Naruto ate his ramen at a faster pace then usual.

He was scared in what he did.

He has no idea what really happened, he realized he was in danger and all of the sudden the metal just appeared.

Truthfully it scared him, what happened to the shop owner? Is he hurt bad? Was he in the hospital?

Naruto soon realized he was chewing an empty styrofoam cup.

* * *

Sleep took a while to come to Naruto, he was plagued by thoughts of what happened.

Yes he was a prankster, but would this be considered a prank?

Or would it be considered an assault.

He might not be able to smile his way out of this; if the owner pressed charges he would be destroyed. All he owned was his apartment. Will it be taken away? What would the old man do? He was the Hokage... plus he always had a soft spot for him! Maybe he could use that...

The puppy dog eyes... it always worked!

Completely satisfied by the answer, sleep soon found the young boy.

* * *

Naruto felt a strange stirring in his stomach and opened his eyes.

It was a sewer

What the hell happened last night?

Naruto found himself walking, he felt _something_ at the end of the hallway.

He could hear his footsteps echo loudly as he walked down it, he concentrated on the noise as he walked.

He doesn't quite know how long he walked, but he found himself in a large room, a giant cage was in front of him with a piece of paper on it.

He stared at it with a bit of intimidation...it was huge compared to him.

That is when he noticed two red eyes staring at him.

* * *

Naruto and the pair of eyes stayed there for a while

Naruto was even more terrified by this dream... or maybe nightmare.

He spoke up "H-Hello"

The eyes blinked,

**"Sup"**

Naruto was shocked by the deep voice, so deep it was like a baritone being played by someone on steroids.

Naruto gulped and took a step forward,"Who are you?"

The answer took few seconds,"**To you, I am everything."**

**"I gave you a gift that changed your life, in return your life is mine"**

Before Naruto could asked what the 'gift' was, everything faded.

* * *

Naruto woke up to a knock on his door.

It was a masked **ANBU**,the anonymous special ops of the village. He or maybe she had a blank animal mask, it looked like a cow. Very nice metal chest armor, with a tattoo on his or her arm

"Come with me please", Naruto couldn't tell if it was male or female.

Naruto complied, he quickly got into an orange shirt and a black pair of shorts.

He gulped as the figure put his or her's hand on his shoulder and disappeared.

Naruto felt air whipping past him for a few seconds, before coming to a sudden halt.

It was the **Shunshin(Body Flicker)** to him it felt like they teleported. But in reality they traveled in very high speeds that his untrained body couldn't track.

Naruto steadied his wobbly knees and looked up.

It was the Hokage with a blank expression on his face.

"Naruto, it's good to see you." The old man said with a smile on his face.

Naruto put on a winning smile,

"Heyo old man, what's up?" His smile brightened up the room.

'_god please dont talk about the store'_

"So I heard something happened at the store"

_'damn'_

Naruto decided to execute his ultimate technique... the puppy eyes.

"Old man you got to believe me! It was an accident!"

The mans face could of been stone.

Hiruzen sighed and continued,"Tell me what happened"

Naruto laughed nervously,"What store?"

Naruto's smiled faltered at the look he was getting.

"It was an accident it sort of just... happened." He began.

"Don't worry your not in trouble, just tell me how."

"I guess I wanted it to happened and it kinda just did." Naruto clenched his eyes shut and crossed his fingers, come on lady luck give me a chance!

Sarutobi sighed," Naruto you can leave, we'll talk later."

Naruto smiled and left in speed worthy of his father.

* * *

Hiruzen dismissed his ANBU and looked at the corner of his room.

"I wanted to finish that conversation."

Out of the shadows an old man with graying hair with bandages covering half of his face appeared. He had formal robes on and a face as cold as ice. The man approached the Hokage, using an old walking can to walk.

He spoke with a neutral tone,"You did not need to question him, we already knew what happened."

Hiruzen sighed, "Danzo, how do you know what happened?"

"Being a village elder keeps you well informed." There was not a single trace of whether he was lying or not.

Hiruzen looked at his old friend (in a way) and sighed yet again,"What do you want?"

"The boy" Danzo runs ROOT, an unsanctioned division of shinobi mostly made of kidnapped children with unique abilities. Ever since Naruto was a boy Danzo wanted his hands on him to turn the boy into a living weapons through inhumane means.

"You can't"

"You have seen what he does, that power is phenomenal. I can make him a shinobi."

"We have the academy"

"He failed the academy, he needs private tutoring, and I can supply that."

Hiruzen stayed silent for a while before speaking again,"Your right"

Danzo looked at him in surprise and triumph,"I knew you would agree, proper training is necessary."

Soon a smirk brought his way to Hiruzens face,' _checkmate'_

"One of my ANBU has similar powers, he'll teach him."

Danzo was emotionless," I've been a ninja for much longer then whoever your thinking of, I was there for the creation of ANBU."

"Danzo, I am Hokage! I know what is best for my people!" The temporary spurt of rage quickly stopped Danzo's argument.

Danzo turned around beginning to leave, he was gritting his teeth as he walked out.

Sarutobi looked at the back of his fallen friend, before moving his head to look at his now returned ANBU,

"Bring me Tenzo"


	5. Chapter 5

**I own nothin**

* * *

**Ste****el Will**

**Chapter 5**

* * *

**_I'm an idealist_**

**_I don't know where I'm going,_**

**_But I'm on my way_**

_-The life of Naruto Uzumaki in one sentence_

* * *

Training was hard...

And Naruto loved every second of it.

Tenzo-sensei said that his 'ability' can wait.

That's what he likes about Tenzo, he wants him to be true shinobi, not just someone flaunting around his cool powers (Uchiha). With him Naruto knows he will become a ninja who could both bark and bite.

He didn't know much about his sensei, he has short spiky brown hair, brown eyes, a face so forgetful its frightening, and freakish looking eyebrows.

Don't forget the forehead protector he's wearing, god what is that?

Or the fact he's so socially awkward Naruto could feel it.

Man, that guy needs to laugh a little.

Though Naruto could forget those for one reason only...

The guy took care of his tools.

His kunai where razor sharp along with his shuriken, the strange forehead thing was glowing it was so polished. And his entire arsenal had a faint smell of wood shavings.

Probably because of his **Mokuton(Wood Release)** the ability to grow trees . Which was totally awesome.

His dear sensei also seemed to lack a life.

But that means more time to train.

* * *

Naruto was still wearing regular civilian clothes (T-shirt and shorts), since all he was doing where stamina and strength exercises.

He was currently running around training ground 11, pretty much nothing but trees. It looked kinda boring, but his sensei seemed to enjoy it.

He panted as he finished his tenth lap. He always thought he had a lot of energy, but compared to a ninja it wasn't much.

He walked up to his sensei who was just... looking at him with the 'I'm creepy' smile on his face.

He graciously took the bottled water Tenzo held out to him and gulped it down. He wiped his mouth and looked at his teacher.

"So what are we- well me, what am I doing now?"

Tenzo looked at him and smiled again," Well we've done a lot of stamina stuff over the last few weeks, so we're going to jump into the reason I'm to train you, your **Kekkei Genkai(Bloodline Limit).**"

A bloodline limit was... a trait, like how a human has traits passed through there parents. A person (usually always in clans) has special powers passed through there families.

The Uchiha have the **Sharingan(Copy Wheel Eye) **Which allows them to copy any jutsu they see.

The First Hokage has the **Mokuton** like Tenzo, he can grow trees and nature.

One question that plagued his mind was where did his gift come from?

Did he have a family? Where there other people with the same ability?

Was that nightmare true? Some creepy pair of eyes gave him his power.

He doesn't know anybody with yellow hair, or eyes brighter then the sky.

The Hokage knows, but the old fart won't tell him who until 'later'.

More like the day he croaks from Alzheimers.

* * *

The tingling sensation won't stop

He tried to channel his chakra into his hand, it started turning grey and he could feel _something _in his hand._  
_

He collapsed sweating soon after.

It was like being licked in the face by a dog or being tickled by a feather...

You don't mind being touched like that, but something in your body just screams _NO_.

The metal was growing in his hand, then being pushed threw his pours. It felt so uncomfortable, he could only wonder how a fireball feels in your throat.

Tenzo was gone, a mission that needed his help.

Naruto only sighed, he kinda missed the company.

A loud footstep startled him, he shot around and a beam of metal shot out of his arm.

The assailant jumped away from it and moved closer to him.

Naruto saw the Konoha headband on him and immediate stopped. The metal sort of just fell out of his hand onto the floor, he looked at it for a moment before examining the guy in front of him.

White hair? probably elderly. It was spiked in the air.

Slanted forehead protector covering his eye. Ok, a bit weird.

The mask covering his face... this guy is a complete looney.

The mans eye bent in a strange way almost like a 'U'.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi, whats yours?"

* * *

Kakashi stared at the boy in front of him,

The son of his mentor.

His responsibility.

Kakashi cleared his mind and executed plan 'Awesome shinobi here to help young one train'

It should work.

Hatake Kakashi is never wrong (most of the time).

He cleared his throat," So whatcha doing out here alone?"

Little did he know that sentence sent Naruto's 'Pedo Senses' tingling.

Blue eyes narrowed,"Just training, what are you doing out here?"

Kakashi inwardly cursed, he was suspicious.

Damn! How hard is it to befriend a boy?

He still had plan B.

Years of reconnaissance and planning was finally about to go into play.

Kakashi took a deep breath,"Well I was out here because I got all these high grade shuriken I needed to-"

He was cut off by Naruto tackling him.

"Please let me see them, PLEASE!"

Kakashi felt very uncomfortable as he took out one of his kunai. Naruto immediately took it and started feeling it slowly.

"Oh my, tungsten lining and tip, the 'body' part is 20% carbon fiber and 80% tempered steel."

Naruto shivered in excitement.

Kakashi in the mean time was slowly taking steps back.

The way he deconstructed his weapon was... creepy, not to mention the face the kid had.

Though if Naruto was so... happy over one of his kunai that means it was in good quality and worth the price.

He slowly decided to speak up," You know, you can have that and a few others tools if you want."

He was tackled again by Naruto who was, crying?

Naruto was currently sobbing against Kakashi's vest. That man actually gave him such nice weapons!

He soon yelled something to the strange man,

"So Kakashi you are now my second instructor! And if you throw in the shuriken you can be my best friend!"

Kakashi smiled as he took out some shuriken.

His plans always worked.

* * *

**I don't like doing author notes.**

**I'm on a role, I just keep getting the urge to write this.**

**I've read the reviews and I'll try to improve.**

**I'm liking how every new chapter I'm getting more words in what seems like less time.**

**till next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Nothin is mine.**

* * *

**Steel Will**

**Chapter 6**

* * *

_If you do a job to well, you'll get stuck with it_

* * *

Naruto stared at the village.

No _his _village

**Konohagakure(Village Hidden in the Leaves)**

He was on top of the Hokage monument, a giant mountain at the head of the village,with the faces of its previous leaders carved into it.

The village was beautiful

It wasn't really the multiple colored rooftops going on for miles, or the big walls, many gratified with colorful images.

The people was what he enjoyed.

The mother holding a baby, an owner of a stand smiling as he grilled some meat.

Happiness all around.

He looked slightly to a left, a park rested there.

His naturally acute eyes could easily see what was down there.

Children around his age where playing, having a careless day and having fun.

One sight gave him a... thoughtful look.

Clan kids, playing in the park with regular kids.

No, he had nothing against ninja clans, but there was one thing he disliked.

Clan kids were bred to kill.

They went to the ninja academy. Trained to kill.

Yet here the are playing like regular people.

Yes they where only nine, but Naruto could see the twitches in there muscles as they played.

Naruto can't explain why his smile faded, the kids that were being born and raised to kill were so... normal.

Why was it that kids so innocent and pure are being sent to destroy?

It's no wonder why Uchiha Itachi went off the deep end and killed his clan a few months ago.

He looked at the heads below him, is this what the hokages wanted?

People born to kill for money. But the village takes these missions with smiles on there faces.

Konoha was seen as a overly 'nice' village, but they kill how many innocents for money?

Was being Hokage what he wanted...

To be acknowledged as the head killer? No, that was unacceptable.

He wanted a world where there is no need to kill.

But that was the path of a Shinobi, so did he want to become a shinobi?

His nine year old mind was simple enough to come up with an answer.

The **Rikudo Sennin(Sage of Six Paths) **united the world with chakra, at least that's what the legends say.

He had a gift from the gods the **Rinnegan(Eyes of the Samsara) **it gave him massive power.

Naruto looked at his hands, they were feeling heavy, he saw them turn a grey color.

The Hokage said his power was amazing, it could change the world.

Naruto, a mere boy, attained wisdom most will never realize.

He had a great power bestowed to him like the sage.

He will change the world...

For the future.

* * *

He walked over to his two teachers ( well Kakashi really didn't do anything).

"Naruto your late, I fear Kakashi is rubbing of on you" Tenzo had a grave look on his face.

Naruto merely smiled," Its, nothing to worry about, just got caught up doing something"

Tenzo nodded and looked at Kakashi who just got up from a nap, his orange book falling out of his lap. Naruto looked at it and sighed.

Everyone he knows are pervs...

Kakashi was one

The Hokage was one

Tenzo still lacked a personality, he was impressionable.

"So what are we doing today?"

* * *

Naruto stared at the geezer in front of him, the air in the Hokages office has gotten very cold.

Naruto took a deep breath and fixed his dropped jaw.

In all ten (almost eleven) years of his life, he just couldn't speak.

He took another breath and said slowly and in a quiet, but firm voice.

"Say that one more time... I think I misheard."

His senseis both looked at the Hokage too, they knew the plan, but they stayed to the sidelines.

The Hokage took in a puff of his pipe," I want you to go to the academy."

Naruto tried to stay composed,breathing very deeply,

"Why?"

"You need it"

"No, I don't"

"You need interaction with your age group"

"Are you saying I have no friends?"

The Hokage sighed, "Look Naruto, don't be difficult, you need to get friends, many of the people who will be in your class are clan heirs. Good political allies. Plus I instructed Tenzo to teach you of your special ability. You don't know the academy three techniques."

"But I'm good enough I've been trained since I was young, I'm a **Taijutsu(Body Skill) **beast! I can own anyone!"

"What about **Genjutsu(Illusionary Techniques)**? Your **N****injutsu** doesn't really have the essentials either."

Naruto couldn't hide his anger, but sighed,

"I can't believe this"

The Hokage smiled,

"Believe it"

* * *

It was the beginning of a new year, Naruto was going into the graduating class. People of his age group.

He was scared, Tenzo might of rubbed off on him. Friends seemed so... intimidating.

A teacher named Umino Iruka took a deep breath before speaking,

"Class we have a new student, please come in Naruto".

Most of the chatter went away as he walked in. Naruto had what he always had on, orange shirt and black shorts, but suddenly he was very subconscious.

He saw the assistant teacher Mizuki give him a death glare.

Great he felt loved, the teacher isn't even looking at him, the assistant hates him, and the class is looking at him like an alien.

He spoke up, " My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I hope we can be friends."

Silence was his answer, Naruto realty wanted to leave.

Iruka looked at him ," You can sit right there, by Kurama Yakumo."

Naruto walked towards the back left of the room, next to a brown hair girl with dark goldish eyes.

She looked at him before shrugging.

Iruka spoke up," Ok, since this is a new year let's review."

Naruto wondered why people where groaning.

* * *

**I might go for distance instead of speed next chapter.I'll try to conclude the academy along with finally showing off steel release. The team Naruto will be on will be surprising.**

**Nobody can guess Narutos team, maybe one of the teamates and the sensei, but the final teammate will not be guessed by ANYONE.**

**Feel free to try though.**

**Till next time**


	7. Chapter 7

**Nothin is mine.**

* * *

**I just updated a big mistake, forgot to put one of the techniques Naruto learns.**

* * *

**Steel Will**

**Chapter 7**

* * *

_**Friendship is like wetting yourself,**_

_**everyone can see it,**_

_**but only you can feel the warm feeling it gives.**_

_-Uzumaki Naruto describes friendship._

* * *

Naruto soon found out the academy isn't what it's made out to be.

He saw posters and frankly, propaganda, about the academy.

It seemed so cool when he was younger, promises of becoming a powerful ninja, being basked in glory and being a hero.

Is being a famous killer really being a hero?

Well in his world it was.

Naruto listened with full interest as Iruka talked about the previous Hokage, the people he was going to surpass.

Naruto looked around the room, he hasn't made a friend yet. Everyone seems to ignore him, he hasn't tried approaching someone yet.

He blames Tenzos teaching for that.

That Kurama next to him was...ok.

She gave him quiz answers when he didn't know the answers. She didn't talk to him at all, but she was the closest thing Naruto has to a friend (his age).

Mizuki was a dick, and that's being nice. He was assigned to help Naruto catch up, because the instructors did not know Naruto had prior training.

The minute he had a one on one session Mizuki beat the crap out of him.

Not that he couldn't defend himself, it was just that he didn't expect the unnecessary roughness.

Iruka was distant with him, not that they knew each other well or anything. He always saw Iruka helping the other classmates with anything, but he did not help Naruto once.

Speaking of classmates there are some that interest him.

There was a pink haired girl in his class, like _pink_ pink.

That was an example of the village making the ninja life seem less dangerous. When pink haired girls join the academy.

She's probably anorexic too, a description might be necessary.

Her name was Haruno Sakura, she had long pink hair, a red dress of some kind definitely made for a civilian, make up that will probably give her a skin infection, kinda cool looking light green eyes, and a HUGE forehead.

It covered like half of her face.

She didn't seem like someone Naruto would like, but the hair is just interesting.

She and Yamanaka Ino, a pretty blond haired girl with light blues eyes, where the captains of the Uchiha Sasuke fan club AKA ravenous animals.

Sasuke was the brother of Itachi, the mass murderer, and the only (loyal) survivor of his clan.

Naruto was fairly certain he was emo.

He always had the ' I have serious mental issues look' on his face. Other then that no emotion.

He was a so called 'genius' though, which Naruto completely disagreed with.

Genius is graduating at five like Kakashi.

Sasuke was good at pretty much everything, his Taijutsu was above average and his Ninjustsu was flawless.

He may be better at Ninjutsu then Naruto, but Taijutsu the blonde was better.

Naruto could see multiple girls swooning over the guy, what was so special about him?

He had dark black hair in a strange shape, the back was sticking up like bedhead. Dark eyes too. All in all pretty generic.

Probably because he was the last in one of the founding clans in the village, so technically he's prince.

Every girls dream.

Well except one, there was this one REALLY strange girl in his class, Her name was Hyuuga( Hyuga?) Hinata.

She was part of the most prestigious clans in the village.

And she just kept staring at him, making him completely self conscious.

She had pale lavender eyes the **Byakugan(White Eyes) **that was the** Doujutsu(Eye Technique) **of her clan, allowing the user to see through walls and a 360 degree field of vision.

She creeped him out when she just looked at him.

Nobody else really interested him.

The other clan kids were just regular children, nothing to really worry about.

* * *

Naruto ate his ramen fast, it was the morning of the final day of the academy, he was to do the examination and finally become a ninja.

He was up early because of Kakashi, he woke him uo.

As he finished his ramen Kakashi, who was reading his book, slowly looked at him.

He spoke up,"So it's graduation day"

"Yes"

"Will you pass?"

"Yes"

"Are you sure?"

Naruto stood up " Kakashi, are you doubting THE Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Yes"

Naruto deflated, grumbling as he threw away his ramen cup.

Kakashi spoke up again, his strange eye smile forming,"Don't worry you'll do fine, and when you do pass I got a gift for you."

Naruto looked at him with narrowed eyes,"Is it a book called 'The Kunai and it's Sheath' like my last birthday? Because that was disgusting."

Kakashi chuckled," Don't worry you'll love it."

Naruto smiled as he ran out the door," I better!"

* * *

Naruto gulped the **Bunshin(Clone), **he forgot about that.

He had issues performing it.

The **Kawarimi(Body Replacement) **or substitution, where you replace your body with anything (similar sizes to you are easier and smaller objects are tougher to replace with) was down.

So was **Henge(transformation) **where you use chakra shell to alter your appearance.

The **Bunshin **was another shell of chakra, this time outside your body and usually in shape of yourself. Good for distracting an enemy.

But Naruto couldn't do it. It always failed and he doesn't know why.

Naruto sighed, it was a gamble, but he had to do it.

Naruto saw Sasuke walk into the room, a new headband shiny on his head.

Naruto clenched his fists. He had to pass, he needed a nice metal headband!

Iruka spoke up,"Uzumaki Naruto, follow me to the examination room"

He walked with Iruka into the room, it was bare and small. A small table on the side of the room with logs on them for **Kawarimi**.

Mizuki was there giving him the same exact look as always.

He needs to pass, he can't spend another year with Mizuki.

Iruka spoke up," Naruto, it's time for Taijutsu, since you sparred with Mizuki a lot you'll be fighting me, ok?"

Naruto nodded getting into an advanced version of the Leafs Taijutsu, the academy style was a much simpler version of it.

Iruka nodded at him and Naruto charged.

Naruto quickly threw a straight fist at Iruka, when he blocked it Naruto swiped his foot, hoping to bring Iruka down. Iruka quickly jumped back, looking down.

He then narrowly dodged the jab going at his face, by leaning his head. Naruto brought his knee up hitting Irukas flak jacket. He then grabbed Irukas arm by the wrist going in for a headbutt.

Naruto hit his head on a log, Iruka substituted.

The academy teacher was impressed, Mizuki said Naruto was terrible. But he just saw firsthand how good the blonde boy was.

Mizuki gritted his teeth.

Iruka gave the blonde a smile,"Good job, that was Tai, and since we don't test Genjutsu, we'll being doing Nin."

Iruka looked at his partner," Mizuki I'm getting a drink, this room is hot, please test Naruto."

Mizuki nodded and smiled maliciously.

He then looked at the boy," Do a** Henge**"

Iruka walked out and Naruto **Henged** into the Hokage.

Mizuki scribbled something and looked back at him, "Time for **Kawarimi**."

Naruto didn't expect Mizuki to pull out real shuriken from his bag instead of the blunted trainee ones.

Nor did he expect to them to be whipped at him as fast as the teacher could manage.

Mizuki had a smile on his face, but it faded as he saw a log riddled with his tools.

He looked behind him and saw Naruto inspecting one of his shuriken," There is a bit of rust on this, and chipping. You need to take care of your things."

Mizuki glared and was about to speak when a refreshed Iruka walked in.

He looked at Mizuki," Whats next?"

"**Bunshin**"

Naruto took a deep breath, he was ready.

He walked into the center of the room.

* * *

Naruto was on top of the academy roof, heartbroken.

He failed. Stupid clones.

He heard footsteps and saw Mizuki.

He suddenly got confused as Mizuki...smiled?

"Hello Naruto."

Naruto was on guard Mizuki wasn't this nice.

"Hi"

"I'm sorry about the test, I think you should of passed."

Naruto raised his eyebrow, Mizuki went on,

"You know there's another way you can pass"

Naruto soon looked, completely focused.

Mizuki inwardly chuckled,'_ All according to plan'_

* * *

Stealing the forbidden scroll?

Complete bullshit test.

But theres always a chance that it was true.

He was currently in the Hokages private library, the hidden scroll was right in front of him.

He took a step forward only to stop quickly.

He sniffed the air, he smelt metal, it was ninja wire. He held up his hand and closed his eyes, he felt a bunch of metal tripwire traps was in front of him.

He smirked as he easily maneuvered around them. In the night it would be impossible for a normal person, even ninja to see them.

But he was far from normal.

He slowly walked down the halls of the Hokage tower, his office building.

He stopped as a door opened, the Hokage walked out .

"Naruto what are you doing?"

Naruto sighed, he knew a way out of this, but he would have to use his secret technique. He just finished developing it, it hadn't even been field tested yet.

He closed his eyes and prepared the technique.

"**Oroike no Jutsu(Sexy Technique)**!"

he turned into a bombshell naked blonde with smoke covering her private spots.

he or she spoke," Come here Hiru, I like strong men!"

The Hokage felt blood go to his face, before being released through his nose. So much that he passed out.

Naruto smirked," Old pervert got what he deserved."

* * *

Naruto looked at the scroll, Mizuki said meet him at training ground 43...or was it 33? Crap, the smile Mizuki had was so strained his words where garbled up.

he shrugged, Mizuki would probably find him sooner of later.

Later was better.

he had more pressing issues at the moment, the scroll wouldn't open.

He's tried everything short of destroying the scroll.

He threw his hands up in frustration, they hit the tree he was leaning on.

An acorn fell out and hit him in the head, completely scaring him.

Naruto jumped in his sitting position biting his tongue. He felt the metallic taste on his tongue and spat it out.

Right onto the scroll, he didn't even noticed what happened.

He did notice the scroll opening.

* * *

_'The **Kage Bunshin(Shadow clone)**__also has another function. Along with a solid body it also forms it's own memories, and when the clone dies the host then gains the memories. the potential in this is...'_

Naruto yawned, the Second Hokage is actually kind of boring, like a textbook.

He noticed that sentence was circled and it was connected by a line to another sentence, this time in a darker, probably newer ink.

_' The memory transfer is pretty good for training, but it hurts like a BITCH, I got a killer headache with those...'_

That must of been the Fourth. Damn that guy is cool, his writing is actually entertaining.

Those shadow clones though...

Might as well give it a try.

* * *

_' The **_Kokuangyo no Jutsu(Bringer of Darkness Technique)_**_ has a weakness, other senses are not affected by this. A clan who uses ninja dogs, the Inuzuka clan, can use there heightened sense of smell to bypass the lack of sight. ____I have an untested version here too, I do not have enough time to use it do to the war going on, in theory it should work if you hit 46 precise tenketsu( multiple points around the body that chakra passes through) points that the diagram below shows...'__

Naruto really wanted to sleep when he reads the Seconds writing, he could imagine a monotone voice explaining this and that would be the Second.

That Jutsu though...

Meh, it seemed to difficult.

Suddenly a though popped into his head

'_time to try some shadow clones!'_

* * *

_'Yeah, so my girlfriend tried this technique and she put WAY to much chakra into it. Her kunai blocked out the sun and she was kinda winded after that, so don't put to much chakra into the **Kage Kunai(Shaow Kunai)**__or **Kage Shuriken(Shadow** **Shuriken)**_.

Naruto officially loved the Fourth Hokage, he made learning chakra theory fun.

Shame he died though.

An original Fourth Hokage move?

Hell yes.

* * *

When Iruka found the boy he saw a completely destroyed part of the forest he was in.

The boy was leaning against the tree, cradling his head, The scroll was next to him.

Naruto looked at him,"Hi Iruka I-"

He suddenly groaned

"- damn that headache is bad!"

Iruka walked up to him, " Naruto how could you steel the forbidden scroll? It's called forbidden for a reason!"

"Mizuki said so"

"What"

Suddenly Narutos eyes widened,

"Sensei! Watch out!"

Iruka moved out the way of a flurry of shuriken, though one nailed him right in the shoulder, disabling his right arm.

He turned around to see Mizuki.

"Mizuki what are you doing!"

Mizuki chuckled," I'm going to kill you and steal the scroll, then blame in on that damn demon!"

Naruto gained a fire in his eyes, "Who are you calling a demon, you jerk!"

Mizuki laughed again,"So you don't know huh, I'll tell you why nobody likes you!"

That got Narutos full attention.

Iruka yelled,"Mizuki stop! Remember the law!"

"I don't care Iruka I'm a traitor remember!"

He stared at Naruto, hate in his eyes," Twelve years ago on you birthday, October 10, The Kyuubi attacked. They say the Fourth killed it, but he couldn't. He sealed it away..."

Naruto started to comprehend what he was saying.

"He sealed it into you! You are the Kyuubi! You killed Irukas parents and hundreds more!"

Naruto couldn't believe it, he had the seal o his stomach, but...

It can't be...

'**It is'**

Naruto jumped, looking around.

Then suddenly he realized who the voice was.

_'Mystery eyes?'_

He heard growling in his head

**' I am the Kyuubi, the strongest being in existence! Don't you dare call me that!'**

Naruto gulped and remained 'silent', the voice went away.

Iruka looked at Naruto, who was deathly still," Naruto it's true, but your not the demon your-"

He was cut of by a kunai in the chest.

Iruka yelped as he fell, the flak jacket stopped him from being stabbed, but the full impact broke his ribs. his headband flew off.

Mizuki yelled," Take that Iruka, and now for you demon, time to kill you"

Naruto stood up, he was looking down.

He slowly walked forward towards the unconscious Iruka.

And picked up the forehead protector of the ground.

He started to tie it on his head, eyes closed.

" I'm no demon, My name is Uzumaki Naruto... and I'm a shinobi of the leaf!"

Those words started to soothe the deep despair inside of him.

Mizuki started to move towards him.

Naruto held his hand as a fist and beated his chest.

His hand turned grey as he took a deep breath.

His blue eyes snapped open, a cold fury in them.

"**Koton: Tetsuken(Steel Release: Iron Fist)**"

Naruto faced his opened hand towards Mizuki, a beam of metal shot out. It wasn't really a fist, but it did similar effects when hit by it.

Mizukis eyes widened by the unknown technique, in his shock he didn't dodge the attack as it went straight into his stomach.

He flew back being thrown into the ground. Mizuki used his momentum to flip back on his feet.

He growled, ignoring the pain, he had no idea what that was. He decided to be a bit more cautious.

He quickly took out his **Fuma Shuriken(Demon Wind Shruriken) **and threw it at him.

Naruto took another deep breath, jumping in front of Iruka. He whispered," **Shirudo(Shield)**"

The metal shout out of his hand towards the ground, it formed a semicircle around him before shooting upwards forming an entire shield.

Mizuki watched as his shuriken hit the shield.

But he was even more shocked as he watched the shield _absorb_ his shuriken.

Mizuki took a step back, what was this boy?

As if Naruto heard him he spoke,"I'm the future Hokage..."

Naruto crossed his fingers in a 't' like shape.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

Mizuki couldn't believe his eyes as hundreds of blondes shot towards him, fists covered in metal.

* * *

Naruto was on top of the Hokage monument, the head of the fourth.

The sun was slowly rising over the horizon.

He just had a long talk with the Hokage, the old man was upset, but very glad Naruto was alright.

Naruto told the man he was ok about the Kyuubi.

He knew who he was.

The Hokage instated him as a ninja for defeating a traitor.

But the headband felt pretty heavy on his head.

He looked behind him, Kakashi was there.

Kakashi spoke lazily," So Naruto, I went to your apartment to give you your graduation present and you weren't there. I waited for such a long time."

"You know what happened... "

"Yeah, but you haven't received your gift. And I know it'll brighten your mood."

Naruto turned and walked towards the man.

Kakashi held out stick like bundle.

Naruto held it and felt a buzzing in his hand.

"No way... Kakashi what is this?"

Kakashi eye smiled

Naruto started unwrapping the package with vigor.

Inside was a sheathed tanto, a small sword, around the size of 2 feet, maybe a bit more.

But this was different, he could feel the power as he unsheathed the blade.

" This blade was once called white light, but I renamed it after my father who wielded it, it's now called the **Shiro Kiba(White Fang)**.

Naruto couldn't believe his eyes, the legendary blade of Hatake Sakumo.

He felt it slowly,

"oh my god, 60% PALLADIUM!-"

Naruto started bouncing on his feet happily.

"-Its coated in IRIDIUM! Oh man 35% rhenium, 5% URANIUM CORE!"

Kakashi chuckled, Naruto was practically foaming at the mouth talking about this blade. Though all the metal, which he has no idea what they are, must be the reason the blade is so damn heavy.

Naruto looked at him with big blue eyes,"Is this mine?"

"Yes"

Naruto almost tackled the man off the Hokage monument. He was crying tears of joy.

"Thank you so much Kakashi!"

Kakashi smiled under his mask.

* * *

Sarutobi Konohamaru, grandson of the Hokage, was a lot like him in a way.

Big ambitions, and the will to achieve it.

Naruto believes that the boy, who he affectionately calls 'Kono' could really become Hokage.

If he wasn't there.

He decided to teach the boy his **Oiroke**. Just to mess with the old man.

He can't help but smile when the boy calls him 'boss'.

He had a student now...

The smile grew larger.

* * *

He spent the week training Kono, and being trained by Kakashi in the White Fang.

He barely saw Tenzo though.

As he walked into the academy he noticed a pair of eyes on him.

Nara Shikamaru, with black hair in a ponytail, dark eyes and a lazy expression on his face. His best friend Akimichi Choji was next to him, he had dark blonde hair , a chubby body and face, strange spirals on his cheeks, and... underpants on his head? It had his forehead protector built into it.

Shikamaru spoke, "Naruto you failed, only ninja are suppose to be here."

Naruto felt angry, he though Shikamaru was alright, he tapped his forehead protector and walked away.

He noticed Sasuke was in his row, a seat between him and Yakumo, he shrugged and sat down there.

Him and Sasuke locked eyes and nodded in respect to each other. Well at least Sasuke wasn't a TOTAL douche.

Soon Sakura and Ino busted in, it looked like the raced against each other, they both arrived at the same time.

"I win FOREHEAD!"

"NO I DID PIGGY!"

Naruto was amused by the nicknames. Ino meant boar, and Sakura had a massive forehead.

Sasuke exhaled and suddenly there eyes snapped towards them.

Naruto was shocked, '_did they hear that? i could barely hear it myself!'_

Soon they ran towards them, on the way up the stairs Sakura pushed Ino and she fell.

Sakura soon ran towards him," OI IDIOT GET OUT OF MY SPOT!"

Narutos frustration was going, first Shikamaru and now Sakura?

His Bullshit meter was about to be filled.

He spoke calmly," I've been sitting here all year, this is my spot."

The pink haired girl growled," I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK YOU STUPID IDIOT!"

Bullshit meter is now filled.

"WELL I DON'T CARE EITHER YOU UGLY BITCH!"

Silence, Sakura looked awestruck.

Naruto kept going," Yeah leave, I don't think a single person in the room likes you!"

Sakura slowly looked around, nobody was arguing. She went to another seat and sat down.

Naruto huffed angrily and ignored the piercing glare Ino gave him.

Iruka walked in," Wow, a quiet class, I'll name the teams you'll be assigned under."

"Team One is..."

Naruto listened closely, hoping that he didn't have Sakura on his team.

"Oh, well there is no team three at the moment, my sheet says the list of people on that team will be delivered shortly."

Hm, interesting.

"Team seven will be: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Sai. Under Hatake Kakashi"

The bad mood Sakura was in dissipated in an instant, she cheered as all the other fangirls booed.

Naruto wondered who Sai was...and he was disappointed he didn't have Kakashi.

Team eight will be: Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba under Yuhi Kurenai."

Naruto looked at the group, Kiba was a fairly good looking brown haired boy with dark eyes, and upside down red triangles on hischeeks, he had a parka on ( Naruto wonders how, it's boiling outside) and his **Ninken(Ninja Hound) **Akamaru with him.

Shino from the Aburame clan, they had bugs hidden inside there body. He had a high collared jacket the covered half his face, and sunglasses on.

"-under Darega Kini, Team ten will be Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino under Sarutobi Asuma"

Hm, the old mans son.

Soon another chunin walked in and handed Iruka a note. Iruka thanked the man and turned back to the class.

"Well, we have team three right here..."

Naruto prepared himself, this must be his team.

"Team three is Uzumaki Naruto, Kurama Yakumo, and Shin with Yamato as there sensei. Thank you and I hope you all become successful shinobi."

* * *

**Most unexpected teammate ever. I think I might be the first to use Shin as a teammate.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Nothin is mine.**

* * *

**So, I haven't started writing yet. Yesterday was almost 4k and that took a bit too long. I'm not good enough to finish longer chapters quickly. So in the sake of quality over quantity I will take some more time. Of course it will not take more then a week for one, I'm aiming for 10k or more per one chapter.**

**Since the team thing is starting i'll explain what im trying to do.**

**This will have some cannon events in it. I have wave planned out, but i might try some more custom events for the sake of originality.  
**

**The reason Shin is alive will be told soon. It'll be a shock too.**

* * *

**Steel Will**

**Chapter 8**

* * *

_"Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much." -Helen Keller_

* * *

Soon most of the students were gone; only team 3 and 7 where left. And knowing Kakashi, team seven will be here for a while.

That's when the door open, two boys walked in.

The best way to describe them is... pale. Like ghostly pale.

Those guy obviously needed to see some sun.

The first one to walk in had shoulder length black hair, dark eyes, and the most creepy fake smile Naruto has ever seen.

And his outfit... ew.

The boy had black shinobi pants and sandals, his kunai holster and utensil pouch where in the usual areas.

His coat was short sleeve and black with two red stripes going over his shoulders. The weirdest part was it was cut off at the midriff.

His entire stomach was exposed.

He walked up to Sasuke and Sakura (who ended up sitting by each other) and bowed lightly.

"Hello my name is Sai, it's an honor to meet you." The fake smile never left.

Sakura said a quiet intro and Sasuke merely nodded.

Sai spoke up again, " I heard it will help team cohesion if we have nicknames..."

Naruto saw the other boy, who must be Shin, sigh.

The pale boy looked at Sakura," Well your so disgusting I think I'll call you ugly."

With Naruto already damaging her ego, the jab Sai made, with a completely straight face, made her turn red with anger.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?"

"My name is Sai, I already told you."

Sakuras jaw dropped at the simple answer.

Sai soon completely ignored Sakura and turned to Sasuke, the Uchiha was looking at Sai with a challenging stare.

"Well you look pretty feminine, and I heard your spoiled... Princess fits you perfectly."

Sasuke looked like he was about to lunge at him.

But the sound of laughter made him turn his head.

Naruto fell out of his seat laughing, Princess! it was priceless.

He saw Shin laughing near him, when they looked at each other they broke down laughing again.

He even saw Yakumo giggling quietly.

The glare Sasuke was giving could almost melt steel.

Sakura was a spluttering mess.

Shin looked at Naruto, the laughing gave them a feeling of friendship without even introducing each other.

'_perfect' _He thought.

He cleared his throat and stuck his hand out," Hello you must be Naruto, my name is Shin and I don't use nicknames like my brother."

Naruto smiled as he shook Shins hand, he took the time to examine him.

Shin had greyish blue hair that was a bit less then shoulder length, lightish color eyes, with the same outfit as Sai except, thankfully, it covered his stomach.

The smile seemed genuine too.

He turned to Yakumo," Hello to you too Yakumo, I hope we can work together."

Yakumo nodded to him.

And then Tenzo walked in, Naruto smiled as he saw him and started making his way to the door.

"Team three, your with me." said 'Yamato' as he walked out.

Naruto caught up to him so that his other teammates where behind him and whispered quielty,

"Whats with the code name? There is no need to be undercover.'

Tenzo shrugged," I wanted one"

"Really? That's all?"

"Yes."

"I think your lying."

"Your right, but you don't need to know."

Naruto shook his head as they went into the garden section of the academy, where students learn about poisons, medicines, and what plants you should eat or not.

Tenzo sat on a chair and the kids went on a bench in front of him.

"Ok, I guess we should do introductions now, since I'm the sensei I should start."

He took a deep breath," So my name Is Yamato, but you can call me Tenzo, I enjoy plants and Konoha, and I dislike human experiments and creepy old men who have a lust for power.-"

Shin coughed

"-My hobbies are gardening and serving my city, my dream is to see an old friend and also see bad people get what they deserve. My talents are... well I have sort of an... _affinity_ for nature."

He turned to Naruto," Just do yours like mine.'

Naruto nodded and spoke,"Hello! The names Uzumaki Naruto, I like ramen and shiny things, I dislike assholes and foxes, especially asshole foxes. I like to train and eat ramen, and my dream is to be Hokage and fix some pressing issues. My talents, much like sensei is that I have a certain... _affinity_ for tools."

Shin spoke soon after," I am Shin, I like my brother and art. My dislikes are creepy old who have a lust for power-"

Both Naruto and Yakumo wondered why Yamato nodded at that, there must of been a hidden meaning.

"- and **Juinjutsu(Cursed Seal Techniques). **My dream is to give my brother a good life. And my talents..."

Shin smirked

"Well an _affinity_ for water stuff."

Tenzo looked confused, he knew what affinity meant for him and Naruto, but Shin said it in a way that made him think it was special. Danzo always had a thing for strange abilities.

Finally it was Yakumos turn," My name is Kurama Yakumo, I like to paint, my dislikes are bad teachers and being held back, my dream is to bring honor to my clan and become a powerful Genjustsu user. My talents are..."

Yakumo suddenly stopped and sighed,

"An affinity for Genjutsu..."

She turned a bit red as Shin and Naruto laughed.

"Well aren't we team special with all these affinities!" Naruto said with a smile.

Tenzo, who looked relatively happy, soon added in, "Usually I wouldn't become your sensei just because I was assigned to. I would have to test you and see if I wanted to teach you..."

Shin seem to catch something,"But..."

Yamato smiled," I think I like you guys, so I'm going to pass you anyways. Team three is now official, we'll meet tomorrow for training."

The entire group including Yakumo smiled. They were ninja.

Tenzo waved,"I'll be seeing you soon." And with that he vanished.

Naruto looked at his new teamates,"So its only like six, you want to get some ramen?"

Inwardly Naruto was scared, he's never asked anyone his age to do stuff with him, he feared rejection.

to his suprise they both nodded

"Why not?" Yakumo added,"I'm a bit hungry."

The blonde beamed," I know the greatest place ever!"

And with that he grabbed his new teammates and pulled them towards Ichiraku ramen.

* * *

"So Shin, what is that 'affinity' you where talking about?'

Naruto said that in a short break between ramen bowls, he was on his fourth.

Shin merely gave a small smile," I don't know Naruto, one day you'll find out."

Both Yakumo and Naruto raised an eyebrow, that answer was kinda cryptic.

Shin looked at Yakumo,"How bout you Yakumo? Your genjutsu 'affinity'"

Yakumo stiffened,"Unfortunately it's getting late outside, my caretakers are probably waiting."

And with that she left.

Both Naruto and Shin looked at each other before shrugging, girls.

Nobody can understand them.

* * *

Tenzo was currently in a bar, a favorite among Jonin called 'The blunted Kunai'.

He was scared, there was so much... people.

Kakashi brought him, apparently the new senseis are meeting tonight to talk about there teams. Kakashi also said that he needed to socialize more.

They where at a larger table, probably used for poker or something.

Ten Jonin each stuck with children. Tenzo questioned some of them in there ability to teach.

Kakashi was being pestered by Maito Gai, a bowl cut wearing Jonin with a green leotard. He was trying to convince Kakashi to pass his team this year.

Gai already had a team, he got them a year ago. The best way to describe them are... interesting.

Gai has an unhealthy obsession with youth. And unfortunate his seemingly strange mental health has rubbed off on them, his team are a little off.

Maybe that's why Kakashi didn't want a team. He didn't want even more lazy perverts running around.

"Oi new guy! want a drink?" It was Sarutobi Asuma, the son of his boss.

Tenzo steeled himself and smiled,"Yeah sure."

He's not THAT socially awkward...

Right?

* * *

Naruto walked down the street.

Team 3 was to meet at training ground 3. Naruto kinda expected that.

He saw his team, in one of the only clearing in the entire training ground, waiting for him.

Shin saw him and smiled,"Hey Naruto whats up?"

"Excited for training to start"

The blonde looked at Yakumo, she had something other then her regular outfut, a pink kimono, on.

Her hair was straight on one side and had a braid on the other, a hair clip with two circles decorated on it. She had a purple dress that went down to her knees and was open on either side of her legs, one of the sleeves was long and the other short. It left a bare chest, but instead of showing any cleavage it showed collars of multiple other shirts going up to her neckline. ( I just looked her up on google images).

She looked a lot like a ninja in that. And it didn't stunt her appearance.

She still had that blank face though.

Tenzo spoke,"Since I don't know your abilities we're going to play a game of tag. Well hide-n-seek tag is a more appropriate name. You will have to stain my uniform by touching me, with your hands, with... how about mud. O.k, you got to touch me with mud on your hands."

"Give me two minutes before you come for me, you have one hour." And with that he was gone.

* * *

The minute Tenzo left Naruto spoke,

"I know a few things about our sensei, he is a nature freak, so look for the plushest areas of land."

The other two nodded and Yakumo spoke," Should we stick together or should we go alone."

Shin answered the question,"We might find him faster by ourselves, but we can't go against a Jonin on our own, and we can't alert the others on our own too."

"So together?"

Naruto started walking," I know Tenzo more then you guys, he had to train me on my 'affinity' when I was young, we also trained here so I know the lay of the land. I'll lead.

He got no argument so they set off.

* * *

Tenzos **Moku Bunshin(Wood Clone) **sunk into the tree, they had good teamwork, already deciding the course of action and the team leader.

But can they handle real pressure.

It's time to find out.

* * *

Naruto gritted his teeth as he and the team searched, it's been twenty minutes with nothing.

They soon stumbled into a special section of the forest, it was a clearing with a cluster of fruit trees in the middle of it. Tenzo loved this spot.

But they weren't finding anything.

Naruto looked up a small hill, there was a big cluster of many unique trees, in the middle was a small pond, Tenzo loved sitting there.

He saw Yakumo there, looking into a small hole in an apple tree.

"Hey Guys! I found something!"

Him and Shin rushed up to the female. She pulled something out of the tree. They both looked over her shoulders.

It was a note.

_'Really Naruto?_

_Did you really think I would go to such a predictable spot?_

_Your on the right track though.' _

_\- Yamato_

* * *

The team was frantic, ten minutes left.

They didn't have time to thoroughly search the entire training ground.

They where back in the fruit tree area. Sitting at the pond.

"So there is no way we can sense him can we?" That was Shin.

Naruto sighed, how can they find him. He was a Jonin! he has never sensed a jonin before...

Wait...

When he was on top of the Hokage monument a week ago. He turned around to look at Kakashi without him even speaking.

He even sensed Mizuki before he attacked Iruka.

He wasn't a sensory type, a ninja that could feel other chakra, but he still sensed them.

He had a revelation, Kakashi had his fathers blade, and Mizuki had the Fuuma shuriken.

It hit him like a brick, he could feel metal.

That was his chance! Sure Tenzo didn't have much metal on him, but if he could concentrate...

He closed his eyes and just _felt_...

He could feel a pull, he could hear the small clanging as his teammates shifted. With them by him he could't rely on hearing. But that left one other sense.

Smell, Kakashi always said he had a strong sense of smell, it was probably the Kyuubi that gave it to him. In fact the Kyuubi probably heightened all his senses.

Back to the matter at hand.

He could smell the fresh trees. The pleasant smell of Yakumo, the smell of fruit on Shin from when he fell in a berry bush.

He branched out, channeling chakra to his nose, he decided to 'scan' the area. Tilting his head in different directions trying to smell the scent of metal. Something only he could smell.

He smelt it, freshly clean tools with a hint of wood shavings.

Naruto couldn't believe it,

_'that crafty bastard'_

* * *

Tenzo looked a the clock in front of him, two minutes left.

He sighed, he expected more from them really.

He soon heard an explosion...

Along with a pained scream from Yakumo.

Tenzo jumped out if his spot in the edge of the clearing, immediately going toward the cluster of fruit trees.

'_Kami, please don't let anybody be hurt, what even happened?'_

He landed by the pond and heard a noise to his left, he looked only to see an apple fall out of a tree. Probably knocked loose by the force of the blast. He looked straight only to have his eyes widen.

It was Yakumo, her legs blown off.

He rushed to her and quickly put a hand on her shoulder. He put another on her neck, the cold skin scaring him, he managed to feel a faint pulse thankfully.

Yakumo sputtered,"sen-sen-sensei..."

Tenzo looked at her, seeing the life slowly fading," Yakumo don't worry, you'll be fine!"

She gestured him to come closer, he did.

"sen-sensei..."

"Yes Yakumo?"

Suddenly, with Tenzos ear close to her mouth, she smirked.

"You lose."

She then vanished into dust.

Tenzos eyes widened,'_Genjutsu!'_

Naruto jumped out of a tree,"**Kage Kunai Jutsu!**" (Naruto learned that from the scroll last chapter).

Yamato jumped away only for metal beams to shoot out of the ground trying to wrap around him. Jumping off one of the beams he turned his head to see another Naruto rocketing towards him, fists grey.

'_Shit! **Kage Bunshin**'_

He quickly shot a wood projectile out of his hand towards the flying Naruto, deliberately missing in case it was the real blonde, and used a **Kawarimi **with it.

Naruto hit the log, causing it to shatter.

Tenzo sighed in relief before looking down, he was above the lake.

He did not expect Shin to shoot out of the lake, a clump of fresh mud in his hands.

Tenzo was fighting gravity, there was really nothing he can do.

Even the highest caliber of ninja can't beat the forces of the Earth.

He fell, pleased with his students, Shin would probably grab his ankle.

He saw a flash of movement, there was Naruto above him!

The blonde had a mischievous look on his face as he took his foot-

\- and pressed down on Yamatos head and shoulder, completely changing Tenzos position so he was falling face first into the water.

The last thing Tenzo saw was the glob of mud going straight towards his face.

* * *

Tenzo, who had mud on his face and hair along with being soaking wet, stared at the smirking children in front of him.

He had been outsmarted by... Children!

"You didn't have to do that" He said with a glare

The blonde, who had an innocent expression on his face said with a light tone,"What do you mean sensei? We did nothing out of the ordinary."

With the look Tenzo gave him, the blondes smile turned a little sheepish,"At least I wasn't hiding INSIDE a tree, how were we suppose to find you like that?"

Tenzo couldn't help but smile a little, "I can't blame you guys, you followed the parameters appropriately. So lets have a review."

Naruto started," Well we all but gave up, but I remembered a time when I uses my ability to sense metal objects, kinda like a six sense my **Koton **gives me."

"Steel release, so you can control steel?" Shin had a perplexed look on his face.

"Well, the metal I used to trap sensei was aluminum, since it's not very dense it's a lot easier to form and move then the iron I used for my fists."

"Why iron and aluminum, isn't there other things you can use?" Shin seemed a bit too curious. Tenzo looked at him with narrowed eyes, he seems to know why. Realizing Shin was still looking at him Naruto answered the question.

"I can only use metals I 'absorb' the first ever metal I came in contact with was a aluminum fridge, I also absorbed an iron shuriken recently."

Shin seemed even more confused by Narutos answer,"Why is it called steel release then? You can't even manipulate steel."

"I originally thought the fridge was steel, so I called it steel release. Also I like the way it sounds on my tongue."

Naruto had a face that said he didn't want to go into it anymore, so Tenzo decided to change the subject," Yakumo, that genjutsu you used, what was that? It felt as if you were real. It completely tricked me."

Yakumo looked down, she looked uncomfortable, she opened her mouth only to close it. She soon took a deep breath, as if preparing herself, and tried to speak. Only to look down again. Her mouth was a fine line as she decided to speak.

"My **Gekkei Kenkai**," she saw there interested looks, she steeled herself and went on," I guess you can call it **Yumeochi(Dream World)**, I can make a genjutsu real."

Yakumo looked up only to see her teammates staring at her with shell shocked expressions.

Naruto spoke," You can make anything in a genjutsu real, so practically anything you want."

"Well, it takes to much chakra for me to do often, and there are other... side effects that happen. Some of them are very dangerous."

Yamato looked at Shin, if Danzo found out he would do anything in order to get that power. He wisely decided to change subjects before more details are thrown out, "Shin why are you dry? I'm still wet. Also how long did you wait underwater? It must of been a pretty long time."

Shin smirked," I got an affinity for water, I told you that already."

Tenzo smiled, "Well we'll be doing training tomorrow, so rest up."

With that he left, going straight towards the Hokage tower. If the Hokage didn't know about Yakumo he must find out immediately.

* * *

Naruto was alone in the training grounds, it was only a few minutes after training ended.

He walked his way over to the lake and saw the metal beams shooting towards the sky. He sighed, time for cleanup.

He put his hand on the beam and concentrated, the metal started going into his hand at an alarming rate. His hand was also turning a deep grey color.

Naruto was sweating, he was gritting this teeth as he took back his metal.

It wasn't really painfully, just unbelievably straining.

When it was gone Naruto was panting on the ground, he hated doing this, but if he didn't do it it would get tougher and tougher to make metal.

* * *

Naruto tried to sleep, but for the first time in his life he was having nightmares.

Konoha being destroyed, hundreds dying, it was terrible. And he knew exactly why he was getting those.

The Kyuubi was showing him images from when he attacked Konoha.

Naruto found himself in a sewer... again.

He knew exactly what this place was and started walking down the hallway in front of him.

Back inside the prison, he saw the same eyes as when he was young. He knew who it was, so he prepared himself and walked forward. Going closer and closer towards the mighty beast.

"What are you doing to me? Why show me nightmares now?" Speaking to the great beast was like going against an entire army with bowling pins and a pinata.

Scary as hell. Stupid as hell.

Naruto had to force himself to look at the beast, the ominous red eyes was just staring at him. It didn't even seem like they were blinking.

Naruto heard a deep splashing sound, the Kyuubi must of adjusted.

**"I**** want you to remember that you are mine." **The deep voice sent shivers down his spine.

"I belong to no one! Only myself!"

The Kyuubi chuckled, "**You say that, but you are nothing without me..."**

Naruto had no idea where his courage to speak came from, he took a deep breath and shouted towards the beast," I am everything without you! everything I've done with my life has been without your help, I don't need you!"

**"Your hands says otherwise..."**

Naruto held his hands up, they where a deep grey and was spreading down his arms. He tried to stop it but it wouldn't.

Naruto looked at his reflection in the water below him, the gray was spreading up his face.

He could hear the Kyuubi chuckle as everything went black.

* * *

Naruto jolted awake shivers in his body, he could feel the sweat going down him as he attempted to reign his troubled breathing.

That dream was terrifying.

Was what the Kyuubi said true?

No, it can't be.

It was just messing with him, trying to get him to let up and release it.

The attempts to reassure himself seemed to be working, he was breathing normally again.

Naruto took a deep breath and looked at his hands, or at least tried to, for some reason he couldn't move his hands up.

It took all his strength to drag up his hands, but when he did his heart stopped.

Through the slivers of moonlight he could see that his hands where a solid grey.

He attempted to scream as he fainted.

* * *

The first mission of team 3 was boring. All they did was weed a garden.

Well Naruto weeded the garden by using the **Kage Bunshin, **while the original and his team sat in the shade of a nearby tree.

The blonde was lounging with a lazy expression on his face,"Sensei, why are we doing this? Is there even a reason we trained in the academy if this is all we are doing?" his teammates seem to agree with him, this was plain stupid.

Tenzo frowned," I heard it's proper for new teams to do D rank missions for a while before moving up, but months of easy tasks will only dull your senses." He looked at Narutos clones," I'm pretty sure they're made to promote teamwork, like working together to finish the monotonous tasks. Though you found a way around that."

Shin looked at the clones with a smile," Our teamwork is pretty good, we trust each other nicely and we trust Naruto enough to handle our important assignments."

"We also had a pretty extreme training session yesterday, so you know we have adequate skills and teamwork." The lone female added in.

Tenzo shrugged as he saw the last Naruto finish the job," Let's go to the Hokage, we might as well try to get a tougher mission."

* * *

"Oh, it's been twenty minutes, you sure finished quickly."

That was the Hokage, he handles missions for genins. He needs to make sure the future generation was safe.

"Yes we finished, though I don't see the benefits in a D rank mission, I would like to request a C rank."

The Hokage had a thoughtful expression as team three crossed there fingers.

A voice interrupted them," We can't! they just became ninja!"

Naruto turned his head to see,"Iruka?"

Iruka gave the boy a quick smile before speaking again,"We can't put a fresh team of genin on a C rank, it's dangerous. I even taught them!"

In reality Iruka wasn't very sure, Naruto took down Mizuki and saved his life, Shin didn't even go to the academy, he was specially trained, and he even heard that Yakumo had training from her clan.

Naruto looked at his former teacher,"Don't worry iruka, we found sensei in a game of hide-n-seek!"

That didn't reassure him at all, in fact it made Iruka worry more, "Yamato, you can't be serious, they just became ninja."

Tenzo looked at the scarred man," Yes they just passed the academy, but they will never become true ninja until they get out into the field."

Iruka wanted to protest when the Hokage decided to speak,"Yamato, are they ready?"

Tenzo nodded, and Iruka tried to protest," Sir you cant-"

He was cut off,"Iruka, I asked you here for a few weeks so you can help me decide when the fresh genin you taught are ready for a C rank. I trust your judgement but I believe these kids are ready, there eyes have a sense of maturity that the other students don't have."

The children couldn't help but smile at there leaders praise.

Iruka merely nodded.

"Team three, I will give you a simple mission, a town on the coast of the Land of Fire has been reporting mysterious break-ins, the leader of the village would like assistance. It's probably a petty thief."

The entire team nodded as Tenzo looked over the mission overview.

"Good luck team three, I expect this to be a success."

* * *

The towns name was **Akai Bara(Red** **Rose)**, an old village said to be around since the time of the great sage. A lot of legends surrounded the town. It was known for it's detailed museum of old artifacts.

That was why team three was running there, the village leader wanted to make sure nothing valuable was stolen by the mysterious thief, or maybe thieves.

As they closed into the town they got there first glimpse of it. It was amazing. Naruto could feel his breath go away.

The town was built on a cliff, the entire city was sloped downwards, white marble buildings built up with red, dome like rooftops. Each dome seem to be designed with different crests of ancient clans. At the bottom of the slope was beach with white sand and clear blue waters.

It was absolutely beautiful.

They stopped on top of a hill overlooking the city, the angle and elevation made it look even better. And by the worn down dirt and grass it seemed like many other people came here to admire the city.

Naruto looked at the top of the sloped city. A giant marble building rested there, it had two domes on opposite ends and a even larger dome with a glass top with red design. It was the museum/townhall. That is where the village leader works.

He looked at his teammates and smiled brightly," Come on guy! I can't wait to go there!" He begain running down the hill, his teammates behind him.

* * *

The leader of Akai Bara was an ancient man by the name of Tsubomi, he had a wrinkled face and a long beard with practically no hair on his head. He had a welcoming smile on his face as he met the ninja at the entrance to the museum.

"Hello there Konoha shinobi! I'm glad you are here to fix our thief problem."

Tenzo walked up and bowed, "Thank you for having us in your beautiful city Tsubomi."

"My my, no need to be so formal, you are our guests! Hospitality is a long standing tradition in our city, let me show you to your rooms." with that the old man turned around and started walking into the museum.

Naruto decided to speak," Umm excuse me, but are we going to sleep in here?"

The man looked at him,"What is your name young man?"

"The name is Uzumaki Naruto, and these are my teammates Kurama Yakumo and Shin."

"Well Naruto, this was once the home of a famous **Kenjutsu(Sword Techniques) **teacher, it is said he lived here during the time of the sage. And that the sage even went here to learn swordplay!"

Naruto was beaming,"Really!? THE sage lived here once? That is amazing!"

The old man chuckled,"It warms my heart to see a young lad like you so interested in history, Sutemu come here! Can you lead our guest to there rooms?"

The team just noticed a young man behind them he had short black hair and dark eyes, "Hello there, I am Sutemu, Tsubomis grandson and hopefully the future leader of this city." The man seemed a little shy around the ninja, but nice nonetheless.

Sutemu led them down a hallway," The room right here is a bathroom, and there are three rooms, one of them has two beds, I am sorry but two of you have to share."

Tenzo smiled at the man,"It's ok, Naruto and Shin can share a room."

Both boys nodded.

"Since it's late we will rest now and start the investigation tomorrow." The wood user spoke.

Nobody complained as they went into there rooms.

* * *

**Well, this is the beginning of the first story line. I was going to include it into this i decided that doing an entire arc in one chapter isn't very intuitive. **

**Next chapter will be a bit longer, hopefully the 10k cap i want to implement.**

**Till next time**


	9. Chapter 9

**Nothin is mine.**

* * *

**I Just hit 10k, hopefully that didn't take to long. Also I saw a review that sked what the pairing was, and frankly I have no idea what it'll be. You can suggest I guess. There might be a bit more grammar issues due to how tired I am.**

* * *

**Steel Will**

**Chapter 9**

* * *

_'Both truths and roses have thorns in them.'_

_-Ancient saying of Akai Bara_

* * *

Naruto woke up early.

His bed was facing the window so the sunlight awoke him. Not the best way to wake up in the blondes opinion. He turned his head to look at his roommate.

Shin was sleeping lightly.

Naruto slowly tried to get ready for the morning without waking up Shin, he went to his bag and looked at his new clothes.

He decided that being a bit more ninja looking might help, his current outfit doesn't really reassure the public. He put on black pants and sandals, along with a black long sleeve jacket with two orange stripes down his sleeves and sides.

Naruto looked at himself in a mirror and smiled.

He looked at the sleeping Shin and slowly made his way out of the room.

He walked to the end of the hallway and saw a glass door. He could see green outside. He made his way out the door only to be in a courtyard, the door was in the corner of it so he had to turn.

It was a big green courtyard with a small lake, a few trees, and some training dummies set up.

Sutemu was also there, a sword in his hand. He seemed to practicing.

Naruto walked up to him,"Hello Sutemu."

The dark haired man sheathed his sword and looked at the blonde,"Hello Naruto, what are you doing up so early?"

"The sun woke me up. Are you good with that sword?"

Sutemu nodded," **Kenjutsu **has been in my family for generations."

"So you have samurai roots?"

Sutemu looked at the house," This building belonged to my distant ancestor, the famous sword master my grandfather was talking about."

The blonde eyes brightened up,"So you have the blood of multiple swordsman in your veins, how about a duel?"

Sutemu looked at the White fang, which was on Naruto's back, the blondes hand was slowly going over his shoulder to wrap around the hilt. He contemplated before nodding.

They both positioned themselves in front of each other, ready to pull there blades out.

Then a shout interrupted them,"Sutemu it's time for food!"

That was Tsubomi, he was standing by the door looking at them.

Sutemu nodded before giving the blonde an apoligetic glance,"Sorry Naruto, we'll duel later."

Naruto nodded before they both made there way into the house. Naruto saw a tired looking Yakumo making her way down the halls.

He got into step by her,"You sleep well?"

"Yes I did, and I'm pretty hungry too."

When they got to the table they saw the rest of there teammates there.

* * *

Breakfast was good, Tsubomi knew how to cook a meal.

As the group ate Naruto couldn't help but as a question plaguing his mine," Hey Tsubomi, if Sutemu is your grandson, then who is your son?"

Silence reigned the table. both men looked troubled. Tsubomi, after a few seconds of silence, decided to speak," I once had a son named Hanabira, I don't know what happened, but he sort of just... changed. He left soon afterwards, that was ten years ago."

Sutemu had a stone face

Yamato spoke up," What do you mean changed?"

The old man sighed,"He became frantic, constantly looking for something, he started coming home late and with bruises. We assume he started drinking but... we really do not know."

Sutemu stood up," Let's not dwell on the past, I can show you guys around town."

* * *

The town was amazing, it had narrow streets with a lot of alleyways. The people were lively and children played around.

Naruto loved it.

They where walking down the main street, it was the widest with multiple shops and stands on the sides. Tenzo bought the entire group some food as they walked.

The sullen mood from the events in the morning had dissipated and the group was having fun.

"This is another one of the houses that was robbed a few weeks ago." Sutemu showed them a very old house with a broken window being covered by a wooden board.

Yakumo frowned, this was the fourth one they saw,"Did you notice that the thief has been hitting the older houses instead of the newer ones."

Shin nodded," Whatever he or she is looking for might be a relic or ancient family heirloom."

Sutemu looked impressed, he didn't think of that.

Tenzo looked at Sutemu," By any chance is there a way we can get access to building records? If the thief is targeting older houses we might be able to pinpoint which one he will hit next."

Sutemu started walking,"Follow me, the archives are in the library."

* * *

The library was one of the oldest buildings in Akai Bara, Naruto was marveling at the ancient architecture.

He was using the **Kage Bunshin** to look at old clan info for any valuable heirlooms. Since the buildings robbed have had clan roots.

The original Naruto, along with his team and Sutemu, were looking at building information. Sutemu's ancestor who built this city luckily kept detailed information on construction.

Naruto rubbed his eyes as his clones dispelled, he didn't make much, but the individual clones were absorbing a lot of information.

He stood up and stretched his stiff muscles, he glanced at his team only to see them reading,"I'm going to help out my clones."

He got no response so he started to walk over to the other side of the library, he just happened to glance left and saw a section of the library with no people at all. The books where scarce too.

Naruto gained a thoughtful look on his face as he started walking towards it.

* * *

The group narrowed the next target to about five houses. Sutemu insisted he can take care of himself so there was one person per house.

Each person has a Naruto clone with them, in the middle of the village was an entire multitude of clones. When one of the group sees the thief they will pop the clone and the other clones will gain its memories. That will cause the entire group to come towards the house with the thief.

The plan was pretty full proof, but no plan was perfect.

Naruto was in a very meager house, all the other ones were big clan homes. He saw a faint initial on the door way

_Otsutsuki H._

Naruto rubbed his eyes in tiredness, of course he woke up early the night he had to stay up late.

He didn't have a clone since he was the original,and his house was pretty small, so unlikely to be attacked, he wanted to save chakra for when he fought the enemy. Naruto had no clue why he was put on this house. He was confident in his combat abilities. And Sutemu, even with his prior training, was still a civilian.

Nobody moved into this house since the original owner, so everything was possibly thousands of years old. Naruto felt a bit uncomfortable sitting on some dead guys couch. He didn't want to desecrate some guys home.

Well... he was dead so he wouldn't mind.

Naruto left the White fang on the couch as he walked into the bedroom, a plain bed and closet, there was very little. Obviously that man didn't have many possession or he didn't have much money. Naruto looked at the closet and opened it.

A bunch of... coats? Maybe trench coats, they were white with a bunch of tomoes on them. Naruto reached for one when a voice rung in his mind.

**'Don't you even dare."** the low rumble was threatening, obviously the Kyuubi.

'_Wait, why can't I? Whats wrong with a coat?'__  
_

'**it's who that coat belonged to, someone very powerful'**

'_Who?'_

'**Shut up'**

'W_hat! Why should I? I'm gonna take if it it belongs to someone so important'_

**'Stop!'**

Naruto took the coat out, it was for an adult but Naruto started to put it on.

And then the most terrible pain erupted in his head. Naruto screamed and dropped the coat, collapsing backwards into an old bathroom.

**'I warned you..."** Naruto tried to curse the Kyuubi, but the pain was too much.

Tears started spilling from his eyes as the pain increased, Naruto's breathing started to lighten as he soon lost consciousness.

* * *

Naruto heard voices.

How long was he out? Why did the Kyuubi do that?

Wait...who was in the house?

It must of been the thieves, Naruto tried to move only to fail, his muscles wouldn't respond from his spasms.

"Oh my look at this sword on the couch, I got to take it", it was a man. he had a leer in his voice as he talked.

They where taking the White Fang, Naruto desperately tried to move, they couldn't take his sword.

Soon the group of people walked into the bedroom, one of them had the White Fang in hand. Naruto was in the bathroom connected into to the bedroom. The thieves couldn't see him because of the darkness and his dark clothes.

One of them reached into the closet and started throwing the cloaks out, he soon took out the back panel of the closet, a small rectangular box came out, which the thief took.

"We got it, let's go"

where were the others? Naruto realized he didn't summon a clone, nobody would know what happened.

The thieves walked out. with the package and his sword.

Kakashi's gift to him, Naruto gritted his teeth as he stood up. He tried to summon a clone but he could barely control his chakra. He started to walk, slowly regaining the feeling in his muscles. He had to follow them, he can't let them get away with his sword.

Soon the muscles started cooperating again he felt a spike of chakra in him as he jumped after the thieves.

**'Follow them'**

Naruto growled... the Kyuubi.

_'why the hell did you knock me out? I could of stopped them'  
_

**'I messed up, I overestimated your strength, you should have been out for a shorter time. I also didn't know what those scoundrel were after'**

_'what was in the package?'_

'**Something that should never fall into the wrong hands...**'

* * *

Naruto was running as fast his legs could take him, he knew the general direction of the thieves, but he couldn't catch up to them. His chakra control was also shot because of the Kyuubi, he couldn't make any clones.

Naruto's vision blurred, he wasn't suppose to be moving so fast after whatever the Kyuubi did. His body and mind couldn't handle such strain. Naruto collapsed in a heap, panting.

Naruto swore as he grabbed the ground, dirt going up under his fingernails.

Naruto took deep breaths and slowly got up. He growled in annoyance before crossing his fingers and concentrating.

At first nothing happened. But soon chakra started swirling around Naruto, the blonde slowly started to produce a **Kage Bunshin.** One clone appeared and Naruto practically collapsed again. He looked at the clone, it was sickly and pale.

"Go" the clone knew exactly what the original meant. It started to run away, unable to jump do to its quality.

Naruto started to walk, the walk morphing to a jog, and then an all out sprint. he needed to find them fast.

Suddenly he stopped

'_I don't even know where they are really...'_

Naruto gritted his teeth, he had no idea where to look, his eyesight was dulled but slowly returning. By the time he could properly track them they could be gone.

'**Use the thing you call a six sense'**

Naruto blinked at the Kyuubi's words before closing his eyes.

He started feeling, looking for the White Fang, he's been with it enough that he should be able feel it's presence. He could feel no metal in the immediate area around him, so he started expanding, going farther and farther. He started sweating at the effort it took.

His head snapped a bit to the right.

'_North east, around 7 kilometers. They aren't moving.'_

The blonde let a smirk grace his features. He should be going strong by the time he gets there, and his team should be on there way too.

* * *

Kokku smiled at the sword he found, it was beautiful, the firelight made it look even better.

"Kokku stop getting an erection from a sword", Kokku glared at the man who said that, Roba.

He heard laughing coming from his other companions Kansui, a big beefy guy, and the lone female Minikui.

"Shut up Kansui, and you too Mini, I don't know how you don't appreciate swords being from **Kirigakure(Village Hidden in the** **Mist)**." They were all from Kiri, going rouge when the bloodline massacres started to begin. They where all chunin with Kansui being a jonin.

Boss was on a hole new level though, he was a master swordsman. He needed them and they wouldn't argue with him.

Death was a very large possibility if they messed with the boss.

Ignoring such thoughts he glanced at his new sword and he smiled even wider.

* * *

Naruto wished he could make that mans head explode, that ugly ass was leering over his sword.

Only he can stroke it that way, Naruto took a deep breath, he can't be hasty. Four against one is stupid, especially when they're bigger and more experienced. He needed to wait for his team to come before jumping them.

He took a minute to look at them, weighing his chances.

The man with his sword was obviously a swordsman, he had a katana strapped to his waist, with long brown hair, brown eyes, and a large nose. He had a flak jacket on and a Kiri headband with a slash through it.

'S_o they're from Kiri huh, high chance of **Suiton(Water Release)** techniques, along with possibility of Kenjutsu for more then just that guy'_

Another man seemed to be insulting the swordsman, with black hair and eyes, he had a teasing smile on his face as he said things. Naruto couldn't see any special weapons on him. Though his right pointer finger was a little stiff, probably from jamming his finger multiple times in the past. A common mistake for new genin practicing Ninjutsu.

The girl was pretty, she looked like the annoying man only she had longer black hair. Naruto could see that her kunai holster on her leg was a bit longer then usual, she must have a special knife. Her clothing consisted of a long sleeve dress like outfit. It was blue and black. It seemed uncommon for a combat expert.

The final man was huge, he was very tall and thick, Naruto could see the muscles bulging as he moved. Naruto noticed by the largest sleeping bag was a pair of metal gauntlets with spikes at the end. That man was a definite tank, going in with brute force.

His chances were slim without his team , so all he could do was wait.

* * *

Naruto's clone panted as he narrowly dodged a tree branch that would of dispelled him, damn his blurry vision. The town didn't seem any closer. He needed to hurry and find his- well bosses team, otherwise his original could get hurt.

The clone could see the oncoming lights of the city since was still dark outside. He couldn't help but smile as he panted.

Though there was one issue, he was barely made with any chakra, he didn't have the original Naruto's full memories. In a simpler term he had no idea where his teammates where.

Damn.

The clone looked at his hands, they were a ghostly pale, and it seemed to be getting paler. He would disappear soon, he had to find them fast. He started running only to lose his balance and almost fall.

He could barely stand, if he went to fast he would run into something and dispel himself, also running was depleting his minimal chakra way to fast.

The clone started a jog desperately trying to help his creator

* * *

Suddenly the Kiri girl snapped her head towards Naruto and threw a shuriken at him, Naruto fell out of the tree and quickly snapped up.

He noticed the four thieves glaring at him, the man with black hair spoke,"Kid what are you doing here? Isn't it past your bed time."

Naruto, feeling anger at the man holding HIS sword against him, started speaking without thinking," I was sleeping when I heard the loudest, most terrible thieves I've ever saw. I even followed those idiots back here."

The asshole drew the the White Fang,"I see that headband, you belong to Konoha, we've gotten word that Konoha sent ninja. But a child was stupid of them."

"Doesn't every nation enlist children? Why does everybody say that when there are people like Uchiha Itachi out there?" The blonde hated when somebody mentioned he was a kid.

In the shinobi world there is no age. Only experience.

Beefy spoke,"Rabo don't taunt him-"

Finally someone took him seriously

"- Since I'm gonna crush him like the small bug he is"

Naruto sighed, never mind.

Naruto took a deep breath,"Oi assholes, come and get it."

And to back up his bad ass statement Naruto tensed his muscles...

And ran like hell.

* * *

Four against one?

It was stupid 5 minutes ago and it was still stupid now.

Unfortunately that woman seems to have sensing abilities since she saw him even though he was hidden. This situation couldn't get any more difficult.

Actually he doesn't have his sword. Naruto cursed himself for making the situation seem worse.

Naruto narrowly dodged the katana going to cut him in half, he landed in a small break in the trees, skidding on his feet. He looked at his opponent.

It was the asshole...

Time to kick some ass.

"Kid your fast, but not fast enough for me." The swordsman didn't seem arrogant or overconfident, he was merely stating facts.

Naruto started to channel his chakra, he seemed to have lost the others, but the swordsman managed to catch up to him. The blondes hands started to morph grey as he took a deep breath.

The swordsman spoke,"My name is Kokku, and I will end you."

Without speaking the blonde shot out a spear of metal out of his hand. It went rocketing towards Kokku, who jumped out of the way and started to advance towards Naruto.

Naruto quickly formed a metal pole in his had and blocked a slash that would've taken his head off. While Kokku and Naruto had a small power struggle, metal slowly formed on the pole and started wrapping around Kokku's sword. But the swordsman quickly pulled back before he lost his weapon.

Kokku eyed the blonde as he circled him, like a predator cornering his prey.

Naruto's staff was absorbed into his hand right before held it up, little bumps started to form on his palms and fingers. The blonde spoke,"**Koton:Hari Shawa(Steel release: Needle** **Shower)**." Small metal needles, or senbon, shot out of Naruto's hand at an alarming rate. Kokku jumped out of the way, but the blonde merely started to move his hand towards the swordsman.

Kokku kept running until he got behind a tree, he heard the multiple impacts of the needles hitting against the wood. After a few seconds the barrage stopped, Kokku peaked his head out to see the blonde panting, realizing it was his chance the former Kiri nin rushed towards Naruto.

Naruto saw the swordsman coming and quickly drew a kunai, he parried the blow and allowed metal to flow into the kunai. It expanded it's length and almost stabbed Kokku. Naruto saw the swordsman try to move back again, not wanting the same thing to happen twice the blonde grabbed Kokku's swords with his grey hand.

Kokku tried to wedge his sword free only to find it attached to the blondes hand. He watched as his sword slowly started flowing into the blondes clenched fist. Naruto opened his hand and a small ball of metal fell out.

Naruto saw the surprise on his enemies face, before it morphed into complete anger. The brown haired man spoke,"I... I will kill you."

"You can try."

Kokku reached towards the white fang,"Oh, I'll try, and I'll succeed "

Naruto actually felt torn towards this situation, on one hand Kokku never used the White Fang before, he must be used to longer katanas other then the shorter tanto. And Kokku didn't know about the ability to channel chakra into the blade.

The issue for Naruto was that his own sword was being pointed against him.

Kokku drew the tanto and shot towards Naruto, who jumped back and stated running around, quickly absorbing the senbon littering the ground. Once he did the blonde shot a metal pillars towards Kokku. Kokku tried to weave around it only to be hit by a small beam. The metal began to surrounded him and formed a prison like cell with three wall being solid while one side was bars.

"**Suchīru Keimusho(Steel Prison)**, your trapped." The blonde smirked as he approached the swordsman. A Hand of metal shot out of one of the walls and pulled the White Fang out of Kokku's grasp.

Kokku glared at the boy."Why are you even here? You are outnumbered, it was stupid to try to fight me even though you won."

The blonde looked at his now returned blade,"This sword is mine, you took it from."

Kokku seemed to understand,"Well what is going to happen to me?"

"Your going to tell me everything about your boss and your objective."The blonde sheathed his sword,"Please don't make this difficult, I haven't been versed in interrogation but I will have to start sometime."

Kokku stayed silent.

Naruto took a deep breath," If you won't talk I'm sorry but-"

The sound of a branch snapping alerted both men. Naruto barely managed to cover his arms with metal to block the fist rocketing towards him.

A loud clang echoed as the blonde was sent flying towards the trees, painfully hitting one.

Kokku looked towards the assailant,"Kansui! Thank god!"

The big man smirked, and Minikui looked at him,"Sorry for taking so long, that bastard sent out clones to distract us, we had no idea who was who."

"I can't believe you got your ass kicked by a child!" Roba had a light laugh as the said that.

Kokku saw that the bars of his prison seemed to slump, he took his hand and attempted to move it. The bars slowly started to move. Kansui went and helped him open it enough to squeeze out.

"Don't underestimate this guy, he's full of surprises." The group looked at the tree to see the boy slowly stand up.

Naruto cursed as he saw the group looking at him, he couldn't escape now. The blonde felt a bead of sweat form on him as he realized how screwed he was. Half ass plans started flowing through his head in panic.

Even though the odds were low he could still pull this off.

The blonde pulled out three shuriken from his punch and held all of them in one hand, he jumped in the air and threw them as hard as possible,"** Kage Shuriken Jutsu(Shadow Shuriken Technique)!**." the amount of chakra Naruto put into the technique made the few Shuriken he threw multiply into hundreds.

Roba took a step forward and started flowing through hand signs,"**Suiton: Sensatsu Suisho(Thousand flying Water Needles of Death)**!" Needles of water started to form and began to counter the shuriken. Many of the shuriken were knocked of course or had there momentum slowed enough to fall before hitting the targets.

Kansui grabbed Roba and jumped away, dodging many of the shuriken that was about to hit them. The former Kiri ninja looked towards the enemy only to see a fleeing form.

Roba was panting as the technique took a lot out of him, he watched as Minikui speed after the blonde.

* * *

Naruto was running as fast as he could, there was no way he could beat them, the punch he took hurt like hell even with metal covering on his arms.

Soon a tree formed in front of him, He swerved out of the way only to hit something invisible,

He looked around from his position on the floor to see trees forming and vanishing all around him. He quickly cursed as he gathered his chakra and dispelled the illusion around him. The blonde looked forward to realize that he hit a tree that the illusion was covering.

Rubbing his nose to try and soothe the pain, Naruto heard a giggle around him. He jumped away, narrowly dodging a senbon, he looked around frantically. He saw the female in front of him, a smirk on her face.

"Well hello there." The complete casual tone made Naruto a bit nervous. His opponent went to the holster on her thigh, and instead of a standard kunai, she pulled out a long knife with a small curve at the end. Perfect for slitting throats.

Her body started to turn into mist as she slowly disappeared.

Naruto gritted his teeth,'_Genjutsu! Shit!'_

He heard a small noise and jumped to the side, he saw a small cut appear on his cheek. He dispelled the genjutsu and looked around. He didn't see the enemy, did he actually dispel it?"

"Took you long enough." Naruto looked behind him to see that Minikui spoke, the entire group behind him.

'_fuck they keep coming! it won't stop_' Naruto realized that he couldn't run, he had to fight.

The big man rushed at Naruto, the blonde going into his taijutsu stance.

But before the fight could started a pillar of wood hit Kansui in the face.

* * *

**TEN MINUTES EARLIER**

Team three were at the house Tenzo was guarding, a large mansion of an ancient clan. All of the Naruto clones disappeared slowly so they rushed into the house the blonde was in. Only to find it empty.

Sutemu spoke,"It's been five minutes, Naruto should be here"

Tenzo nodded in agreement," I think we should look for him, something might of happened."

As if on cue, the door bursted opened and the entire team readied there weapons, only to see Naruto walking in, pale as snow. The blonde looked at them and smiled lightly before collapsing, the group rushed towards him.

Naruto spoke to the people surrounding his body,"I'm just a clone... original in trouble... about 15 kilometers north east." the clone coughed before poofing away.

The group looked at each other before rushing out the door.

* * *

**PRESEN****T TIME**

Naruto praised every god he could think of as he saw his team emerge from the trees. They stood protectively in front of him.

Tenzo glanced at him,"Status report."

"Those four are former Kiri nin, chunin to jonin level. They have an unidentified boss who is stronger then them from what I heard. They stole some sort of box from a closet of the house I was in."

Tenzo nodded and looked at the thieves," Your outnumbered, just give up and give us what we want and you can walk away."

The massive man chuckled,"Give up to a single jonin and a few genin? We will destroy you!"

"So be it."

Both group of ninja tensed, awaiting the battle at hand, time seemed to be moving slower then usual at there standoff.

Naruto stood next to Sutemu, both of them had there swords drawn. Naruto noticed that everyone was taking calming breaths.

"What is this?"

All heads turned towards the speaker, he was male with a black cloak covering his body. A swords was dangling of his waist.

One thing caught Naruto's attention... the box in the mans arms.

'**_Kill him now!_' **Naruto saw no issue with the Kyuubi's command as he jumped towards the man, channeling his chakra into the White Fang.

The man dodged with ease and jumped towards the former Kiri ninja," Mighty eager aren't we? Are these the ninja Konoha sent?" He turned his head to see Kokku nodding.

"Good I get to test my new weapon out." The man had a amused tone to his voice, he took the sword of his waist and tossed it to Kokku.

"Use this, it's now five on five. Also don't underestimate the blonde boy, the sword he has is the chakra saber of the **Shiro Kiba(White Fang), **Hatake Sakumo."

Naruto lunged forward, his teammates following him, Tenzo went towards the boss only to be blocked by Kansui.

Everyone seemed to find an opponent, jumping away to different battles.

* * *

Shin landed by landed by a small pond, he smirked as he saw it.

He looked forward to see a black haired man looking at him, an arrogant smirk on his face.

The man laughed," Well then pipsqueak, Roba is going to kill you." the man seemed completely confident in his abilities.

Shin sighed, where does such arrogance come from? He locked eyes with the man,"Bring it on"

* * *

Yakumo dispelled the genjutsu affecting her and sent her own towards the female, who introduced herself as Minikui.

It was a stalemate, even though Minikui was a chunin, Yakumo had genjutsu skills far beyond her age group. The constant stalemate kept going.

Yakumo pulled out a kunai to block a blow from her enemy, who gave up genjutsu for the moment.

Both females jumped back and glared at each other.

Though unknown to Minikui, Yakumo was collecting chakra as fast as possible. She was planning to end it with one move.

* * *

Tenzo brought up a pillar of wood to block the punch going towards him, the fist punched straight through the pillar.

The strength the fat man held was impressive. Not as impressive as Tsunade, a famous ninja from the Leaf, but still impressive.

Tenzo jumped back,"**Mokuton: Daijurin no Jutsu(Wood Release: Great Forest Technique)!**" Tenzo's arm morphed into wood and a branch shot out towards Kansui, who attempted to dodge, only for another branch to sprout out and wrap around his arm.

Kansui growled and used all his strength to rip out the branch and free his arm. He turned and ran into a clearing.

In Kansui's mind he had the advantage now that his enemy was out of there element. A smirk formed on his face as he charged.

Tenzo realized what Kansui must of been thinking.

'_time to burst his bubble_' and with that thought Tenzo brought his arm up.

"**Mokuton: Jukai Kōtan(Wood Release: Nativity of a Sea of Trees)**!"

The smirk Kansui had faded as he watched the entire clearing erupt into trees, including right below him.

* * *

Naruto and Sutemu stood next to each other, Kokku and the boss in front of them. Naruto rushed forward into Kokku and they clashed blades, starting there own little battle.

Naruto brought his sword down in an vertical arc, only to have it blocked. The blonde brought up his foot and attempted to kick Kokku's knee, trying to break his entire leg.

Kokku manged to dodge and they both landed by there partners.

The boss held up the box," Well then, time to test this out...'

'_**Don't let him! You have to stop him!**_' The Kyuubi's voice was blasting in his mind as he rushed towards the boss only to be blocked by Kokku and having there battle continue.**  
**

The boss opened the box and the most pleasant smell they have ever smelt assaulted them. The three other swordsman stopped there fight to look.

The boss pulled out... a flower? An ornate flower sculpture?

It looked like a rose, light green handle with darker green spots on it. The hilt, the top of the handle, was a decorated rose. So detailed it looked real, but there was one issue if that was a weapon...

There was no blade.

The boss's movement seemed nervous as he picked up the sword, his muscled were tensed. Nothing happened and the boss laughed.

"It works! I am worthy!"

Both Naruto and Sutemu looked at the man in confusion, as if sensing them the man looked at them.

Suddenly out of the flower part of the sword a blade shot out, rose petals flew from the hilt as it emerged. The blade was short, like a tanto, it was stained a lightish red color. In Naruto's opinion the sword looked beyond elegant.

Suddenly it hit him like a ton of bricks, he knew what that was and fully understood why the Kyuubi was scared.

He spoke slowly, as if in disbelief," **_Toge Bara_**... _Rose Thorn_."

* * *

_FLASHBACK_

_THE EARLIER AFTERNOON_

Naruto rubbed his eyes as his clones dispelled, he didn't make much, but the individual clones were absorbing a lot of information.

He stood up and stretched his stiff muscles, he glanced at his team only to see them reading,"I'm going to help out my clones."

He got no response so he started to walk over to the other side of the library, he just happened to glance left and saw a section of the library with no people at all. The books where scarce too.

Naruto gained a thoughtful look on his face as he started walking towards it.

He glanced at the title of the section again...

**LEGENDS OF AKAI BARA**

That might actually help, it could give him a hint on what the thieves where looking for. He looked around ,there weren't many books, but the onesin there had impressive size to them.

He created two clones and sat down, opening a large book.

_A FEW HOURS LATER_

_When the sage started what some would call his final tour of the elemental nations. Where he went around and addressed all the people who helped in in his travels, he reunited with his original kenjutsu master. The leader of this town, which was originally called Hamamura, Surudoi Ken. The sage stayed in his old home and spent a few moths with his old master. When he finally decided to leave he left a final parting gift to Ken, the sage handcrafted a sword for Ken. It was said to have mythical powers to strike down even the mightiest beasts. It was said only those destined to hold it can use it. The sage named it after Ken's deceased wife, who died during there adventures. Surudoi Ken's wife was named Bara. And legend says the blade was then named...  
_

**_Toge Bara..._**

Naruto sighed, he wish he had a sword made by the sage himself. He saw Shin walking towards him so he got up.

The group left minutes later to execute there plan. The book laid forgotten.

* * *

_PRESENT TIME_

The boss laughed,"So you know what this is don't you?" the man swung around the sword a few times to test it out.

Sutemu's eyes widened in understanding, his jaw dropped as he looked at the sword of legend," Tha-thats not possible! It's only a myth, people has searched for years and found nothing!"

Boss laughed," Yes, people have been searching for thousands of years, but nobody expected it to bee hidden in the sages old closet! Such an utterly stupid and terrible spot to hide something. But somehow it worked until now!"

Sutemu had a look of anger on his face," I won't let you have it!" he lunged at the head thief, There was a loud clang as two blades clashed.

Naruto looked at Kokku, who was distracted by Sutemu's fight, and jumped towards him.

* * *

Shin jumped away from a flurry of water needles. He weaved through hand seals before yelling,"**Suiton: Teppōdama(Water Release: Gunshot)**!" Shin shot out multiple balls of water at high speeds. Roba jumped away dodging most of them, but one managed to hit him in the chest. Sending the man flying away.

Roba coughed as he got up, the older man glared at Shin. Both men tensed ready to attack.

Suddenly two figures shot out of the treeline. Yakumo and Minikui rolled around from there momentum before shooting back up. They both noticed there teammates and booked it towards them.

Shin looked at Yakumo, she had multiple tears in her clothing along with a small cut on her cheek. Minikui was in similar conditions too.

The fierce look the females where giving each other scared the boys shitless. They both took a couple of steps back unconsciously. Shin gulped and approached Yakumo.

"What's the game plan?"

"You cover me while I prepare a technique. Then that bitch is going down." The tone Yakumo had sent shivers down Shins spine. He only nodded stiffly.

Shin rushed towards the enemies,"**Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu(Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique)**!" Water shot out from the lake into a vortex, it went onto the air and formed a giant wave.

Yakumo marveled the fact Shin could use such a powerful technique. She quickly closed her eyes and started concentrating.

Roba and Minikui jumped away from the giant wave, but the waterfall impacted the ground, sending gallons of water hurling towards them. They were swept up and painfully being dragged away, when they managed to break out of the wave they where separated.

Minikui looked at Yakumo, before everything started swirling, leaves started flowing out of the tree before spinning around her. Minikui glared at the girl," You think a genjutsu like this can stop me?" she tried to dispel it only for it to fail.

Minikui looked around, desperatly trying to dispel the genjutsu.

Little did she know that it was real.

The leaves stopped in mid air and the tips snapped forwards towards her. The leaves started to launch towards her at extreme speeds.

Minikui closed her eyes, thinking that it was all fake, she never realized that her eyes would never open again. The first leaf went into her brain, killing her instantly. A few more hit her before the others passed though.

Yakumo collapsed panting, it took almost all of her chakra, but she did it. She looked at the dead form of her enemy and swallowed hard.

Both Shin and Roba looked to there side to see Yakumo and the dead Minikui

Roba's eyes widened before yelling,"NOO"

Using that distraction Shin ran over to support the panting Yakumo. They looked up to see an enraged Roba.

He yelled," I will KILL YOU!**Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu(Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique)**!"

Out of the lake emerged a head of a dragon, it slowly rose, its yellow eyes locking onto Shin and Yakumo. Is soon launched itself towards the pair.

Shin grabbed Yakumo before jumping away, they landed roughly before rolling towards the shore of the lake.

Roba laughed insanely," Your mine now! **Suirō no Jutsu(Water Prison Technique)**!" Water shot out of the lake and wrapped around the struggling pair. A sphere for each of them. Roba laughed harder as he approached.

Roba went to Minikui's body and picked up her knife," Now I kill you, I'll start with the girl for killing Mini."

Roba looked at Shin with a teasing smile, the smile faltered as he saw the white haired boy had an impassive look on his face. He walked towards him," Well then, maybe I should injure you, you can bleed out as you watch your teammate die."

Shin glanced at the knife in disinterest before a devious smirk came to his face," Such a little knife wouldn't do much, but I guess your used to little things.'

At Roba's angry face Shin went on," I bet I know the reason that Minikui chick had a knife like that, it was probably to remind her of your small wank."

"She's my cousin!"

"Ooh, that's pretty strange! oh and it's not 'she _is_ my cousin' it's 'she _was_ my cousin'."

Roga screamed in rage before rushing at Shin while Yakumo could only watch with wide eyes, to both Roga and Yakumo's surprise Shins bottom half seem to of disappeared. Roga, with his momentum, still ran forward, his arm going into the prison.

Shin completely disappeared before an undefined figure started to emerge from the water prison. It spoke,"So your from Kiri huh? Well then maybe you heard of my clan..."

Roga's eyes widened in fear, the figure went on," My name is Shin, Hozuki Shin."

Roga's jaw dropped,"I know that clan, those who could turn into water... y-you all died!"

The figure, now identified as Shin, slowly started to gain more details and color. Yakumo saw that half of Shin's body was normal, while the other half was made of water.

Shin had a smirk,"Apparently not." And with that a hand of water shot out of the prison and pushed Roga in.

With Roga's concentration gone, Yakumo's water prison fell into a puddle on the ground, the drenched Yakumo kept watching the event in front of her.

Shin was keeping the prison afloat with his own chakra, he had a stone expression on his face as he watched Roba start to loose air. The former Kiri nin started grabbing his throat as he attempted to escape. But with no success.

Roba slowly started to drown, his struggling caused him to loose more air and he died in twenty seconds.

Shin let go of the prison and Roba's lifeless body flopped to the ground.

He turned to Yakumo and stuck out his hand, she took it slowly and he hoisted her up.

After a few seconds of silence she spoke," Hozuki huh? So there was an entire clan full of creepy pale people like you?"

Shin pouted, before speaking playfully,"Shut up."

* * *

Kansui panted as Tenzo dodged another one of his attacks.

Tenzo smirked, obviously Kansui couldn't carry his massive weight around.

Kansui looked around, Tenzo was gone, he was nowhere to be seen. The big man growled,"Come out you rat! I'm gonna crush you!"

"I doubt you will, **Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu(Earth Release:Double Suicide Decapitation Technique)**!" Tenzo's hand shot out of the ground and wrapped around Kansui's ankles and dragged him down until only his head was showing. Tenzo emerged from the ground in front of Kansui,"Well hello there!"

"Shut up you bug! Let me out and I will decimate you! I will rip you limb by lim-" Kansui made a small noise as Tenzo shoved something into his mouth. Kansui swallowed it on accident.

"What did you feed me!?"

"One of my Mokuton seeds. Don't worry you'll be fine.

Tenzo started walking away, with his back facing Kansui he slowly moved his hand into the snake hand sign.

Kansui felt something stir in is stomach...

Right before he exploded into tree roots. The roots started bursting from the ground completely destroying the body as a tree slowly started to grow from the ground

Tenzo could smell the lingering scent of Kansui's body, in a few days the smell would be completely gone and nobody would ever find the dead body.

He frowned,"Sometimes I hate this job."

* * *

Naruto jumped back, he narrowly dodged an almost fatal strike from Kokku, though his jacket did not come out unscathed.

"That jacket was new asshole!"

Naruto glanced at Sutemu, the dark haired man was literally dancing around the Boss. Naruto felt new appreciation for the young man, if he went against Sutemu in swordplay he would loose no doubt. Even the boss had amazing skill, the two where flowing like water, trading blows with grace.

A blade appeared inches from his face, only due to fast reflexes did Naruto avoid decapitation. The blonde cursed himself for becoming distracted. He leveled his stare with Kokku, both of them were panting and sweating. Kokku had superior speed and skill in the sword, but Naruto had his enhanced instincts and his Kekkei Genkai.

Naruto let out a groan as his blade collided with his enemies, he channeled all his chakra to his knee and a metal spire shot out of his leg going straight into Kokku's stomach. The man doubled over and Naruto gave him a vicious kick to the head.

Kokku hit the ground disoriented and Naruto went in to finish him. But the moment was ruined as Sutemu went flying into Naruto. They rolled on the ground and landed in a heap. They both quickly fixed themselves before they simultaneously glared at the Boss, who was walking towards them.

The blue eyed boy spoke quietly," Distract him ok? I'll try to finish him."

He got a nod in response before Sutemu rushed up to the boss. Sutemu charged straight and met his opponents blade in a power struggle, the Boss was bigger though and started to overpower him. Sutemu released all pressure and slowly leaned to the side. The maneuver was something only a skilled swordsman cold pull of since the chance of getting your arm cut off is so high.

The Boss didn't expect such a move and started falling due to his momentum, Sutemu did a small spin to regain his power as he went in to stab the Boss in the back. The boss span so his back was facing the ground and just dodged the stab, he let out a chuckle as he quickly jumped back.

"Impressive! You would of grown to be a fine swordsman if I didn't have to kill you!" The man picked up a more cautionary stance, expecting Sutemu to rush him again.

He didn't expect an arrow like projectile to go zipping at his head from the side. He leaned his head and the arrow tore through his hood, but left his head intact. The arrow went into a tree with the scraps of the hood still on it.

Naruto looked at the man only to see...

'_Sutemu?'_

The man was the spitting image of Sutemu, same eyes, hair,and face. The only difference was that Sutemu's modest expression was replaced by a cruel look with a malicious smirk. It suddenly clicked who that was in Naruto's mind, but before he could say Sutemu beat him to it.

"Father... your the head thief."

* * *

Naruto, being an orphan since birth, had no idea what was going through Sutemu's mind at the moment. He could only wonder how it could feel to be betrayed by someone so close. He eyed his friend in concern.

Sutemu had a blank look on his face, " Why would you, Surudoi Hanabira, leave his family to become a lowly bandit?"

The Boss- well Hanabira looked at his son," This sword is why, it was made by the sage, the power it has is unknown. It was said to even damage a **Biju(Tailed Beast) **before."

Naruto was shocked,'_Is that true? That sword can hurt a Biju?'_

**'You could say that...'**

Before he could call out the Kyuubi on the cryptic answer Sutemu spoke," So you left me for a sword? You left your small child for power? Did I even mean anything to you!?"

"You used to mean something to me, but I had to make sacrifices."

Sutemu's eyes sharpened," Your not the father I used to know...You bring dishonor to the teaching of this family. I will erase the blemish you caused." Sutemu charged at his father with a new vigor to him.

Every hit was meant to kill as Sutemu bombarded his father with blow after blow. The older man somehow managed to dodge or block all of them.

Sutemu took a single step back and lowered his sword, he then did something that shocked everyone watching. He lowered his word so it was pointing down and then swung it like a golf club. Hanabira barely blocked it, the result was his sword in an awkward angle. Sutemu brought his leg up and kicked Hanabira's wrist.

The Toge Bara went flying from his grip as the man stumbled down, he couched as he looked up, only to see Sutemu rushing towards him.

Sutemu was about to go in for the kill when he quickly brought up his sword to block a kunai that was about to hit him. He looked to see Kokku, who must of just recovered from the blow to the head, walking a few paces forward.

Right next to of the Toge Bara, Kokku bend over and picked it up, a small smile on his face.

"A legendary blade in my own hands... amazing." Kokku's awestruck face started to fade as he faced the duo," With this I shall end you."

Suddenly Kokku stopped, his breaths started to stutter as he looked down, Naruto and Sutemu's eyes following. In the hand holding the sword there were spikes sticking out, green spikes that looked exactly like rose thorns.

Kokku swayed," Am I... not worthy...?" He collapsed and started to spasm, after a few minutes he stopped moving, dead.

As fast as lighting Hanabira was at the body, picking up sword once more. He looked at the body with a smirk before speaking," The Toge Bara has a deadly poison in it, it is incurable, and if anyone who isn't worthy tries to hold it they will be poisoned."

Naruto was confused, how could someone like Hanabira be worthy enough to wield the sword?

He had little time to think as the older man charged at him, Naruto brought up the White Fang and blocked the blow he quickly moved out of the way and allowed Sutemu to come up behind him. They switched places and Sutemu clashed blades with the enemy. Naruto worked his way around Hanabira and attempted to back stab him, only for the thief to bring up his foot behind him and kick Naruto in the stomach.

Hanabira headbutted Sutemu before whipping around and attempting to end the blonde boy. Naruto closed his eyes and started to cover his chest with metal, waiting for the blow.

When it didn't happen he opened his eyes to see water wrapped around Hanabira's wrist keeping him from fully executing the stab. Naruto rolled out of the way and looked at his saviors, when he saw them he smiled.

"Bless you Shin, it's good to see you too Yakumo." his teammates nodded to him before they all went to Sutemu, who got up and was rubbing his head.

"Damn that hurt, so we're all here except Yamato? We can take him."

Hanabira chuckled,"You think you can take me? One hit and your done!"

Naruto glared at the arrogant man,"Lets go and beat this guy."

Naruto and Sutemu ran up the sides while Shin, slightly behind them, went up the middle. Yakumo jumped back and started to weave through hand seals,**"Genjustu: Memai Jutsu(Illusion Technique:Vertigo Technique)**!"

Hanabira started to wobble as he lost his balance, he managed to duck under Naruto's slice and the blonde went flying over him, the thief clumsily turned to try and block Sutemu's strike, he didn't expect expect Sutemu to quickly jump away to reveal Shin Rushing towards him. Shin did a slide until he was almost under the thief, his leg turned into water as he shot it our, kicking Hanabira's hand. The Toge Bara went flying behind him.

And right into Naruto's outreached hand, the blonde rushed towards the disoriented Hanabira.

Hanabira attempted to dodge, but Yakumo put up the intensity of her technique, Shin quickly pushed the man forward and he stumbled...

...Right into the slash Naruto made. But to the groups surprise Hanabira fell like a rock and dodged the blow. He managed to jump a couple of meters away from the group, panting.

Naruto cursed before feeling a deep stinging in his hand, he looked down to see a large thorn sticking out of his hand. He felt woozy as started to loose balance.

_'Guess I'm not worthy...'_

* * *

The group could only watched as Naruto lost his grip on the blade and fell forward, unmoving. Hanabira laughed in joy at the sight. He used the moment of surprise to rushed forward trying to reclaim his sword.

But right as he was about to pick it up a pillar of wood shot out of the ground and sent the sword flying. Hanabira looked to see another Konoha ninja standing there shooting a branch of wood at him.

Hanabira jumped and just managed to dodge the branch.

Suddenly he jerked forward and stopped, his breath leaving him, he looked down to see the Toge Bara sticking out of his chest. He slowly turned his head around only to see Yakumo standing there. An expression of fury on her face.

He sputtered as he collapsed,"h-ho-how can y-you use i-it?"

"Guess I'm worthy..."

Hanabira started to shake on the ground he saw feet approaching him and saw Sutemu standing before his fallen form.

"Even though your a bastard your still my father. So I will put you out of your misery." With that Sutemu stabbed his father through his head, ending his life. He walked over the the group around Naruto's form.

The entire group was huddled next to the blonde, whose breathing was shallow, Yakumo numbly put her hand on Naruto's arm.

To her surprise she heard a voice,'**You can save him.'**

Yakumo looked around for the voice, only to find nothing.

**'I'm in your mind, well Naruto's mind and I'm talking to you through a psychic link'**

'_Who are you?'_

**'You know me as Kyuubi...'**

_'What! Why...'_

**'Shut up brat! If the brat dies I die in a way too. So stop talking and I'll tell you how to save the little bastard.'**

_'O-okay.'_

**'The sword chose you as it's wielder so take some petals of and give it to the boy.'**

Yakumo went to the hilt of the sword and tried to pull at it, to her surprise rose petals came out only to regrow second later. She couldn't spend her time marveling as she clumped them into a ball and shoved them into Naruto's mouth.

* * *

Naruto couldn't feel anything, his senses were practically all gone.

Was he dead? Did a bastard like Hanabira really kill him?

Naruto wanted to sigh in annoyance only to realize he can't

'**Brat I hate you...'**

It was the Kyuubi.

**'But if I ever want to be free I need to keep you alive.'**

Really? he didn't know that.

'**T****here's something in your mouth, chew it'**

Even though he couldn't feel a thing Naruto complied, it was strange trying to chew something with out even feeling that you're chewing it.

Suddenly a feeling of adrenaline rushed through the blonde, he gasped as colors assaulted him when his eyesight returned, his hearing came soon after, he could hear Tenzo's sigh of 'thank god'.

Sutemu spoke slowly," Are you alright Naruto?"

All the blonde could do was make a small moaning noise.

Tenzo created a two **Moku Bunshins(Wood clones) **and they carefully lifted the blonde. The team leader looked around before speaking," Let's go, we need to get Naruto to a hospital."

The group started to walk but Yakumo lagged behind, she looked at the blade in her hand before frowning, she held it up into the light. The blood on the blade blended perfectly with the red tint of the metal. Suddenly the blade snapped shut, receding back into the hilt.

Yakumo gripped it tightly as she started to make her way to her team.

* * *

ONE WEEK LATER

Naruto sighed in contentment as he basked in sunlight, he was currently walking down the street of Akai Bara in peace. The citizens of the town looked at him with respect and awe as he made his way back to the museum.

Since him and his team defeated Hanabira and stopped the thieves, the town practically worshiped them even though they really didn't do much to deserve it. Children would look at them with wide eyes, shop keepers would give them free food, and not a single hated look went his way.

If only Konoha was like this...

He walked into the museum with a bag of food in his hand, today was the last day him and his team were staying here since Naruto fully recovered. Naruto walked his way over to his room to see Shin outside of it, with both of his own and Naruto's luggage next to him.

He saw the blonde and glared," Really? I refuse to carry your stuff all the way back home even if your sick."

Naruto rolled his eyes and tossed the bag to Shin, who looked inside and licked his lips.

"Alright your forgiven, I love sweets."

The two boys took the luggage and made there way to the main lobby, where there teammates along with Tsubomi and Sutemu where waiting.

The old man smiled at the Konoha ninjas," As mayor of this city I can not thank you enough. You stopped the plague that my son would have become and found an ancient artifact."

Naruto was surprised that Tsubomi could talk about his son like that, but being a village leader means sacrificing for the greater good.

Not that there was any good involved with Hanabira.

The mayor looked at Yakumo,' If word gets out that the Toge Bara was found our village would be assaulted constantly. It might be for the best if we keep it out of the village."

Yakumo's eyes widened at the meaning,"You want me to keep it?"

"The sword chose you, so yes, consider it a second payment for all the troubles our village has caused you."

Tenzo nodded graciously as he took an envelope filled with money, the payment for the mission, Yakumo was holding the sheathed Toge Bara in her hands, staring at it in thought.

She looked up,"Thank you Tsubomi, I'll take good care of it."

Sutemu smiled as he looked at Naruto," Looks like we won't be able to spar after all..."

"No no, it's Ok, I saw your fight with Hanabira, you could absolutely destroy me with a sword.

The group laughed a little at the scared look on the blondes face.

Tenzo started to walk," Let's go home."

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed,"So your telling me that you- even though the ancient blade had a deadly poison within it, and the fact it just killed a man just by holding it-still decided to grab it and attempt to use it?"

At the blondes enthusiastic nod the Hokage sighed yet again, something he does around Naruto a bit too much.

He opened his mouth,"Why?"

"Because it was made by THE sage. How could I not hold it? Besides I lived right?"

The old man decided to ignore the blonde and looked at Yakumo," So the blade chose you as a wielder?"

"Yes"

Hiruzen knew Danzo would make a big deal out of this, maybe he should let Danzo hold the sword...

Shaking himself out of his devious thoughts the Hokage looked at team three,"Because of the untold circumstances, this will now be labeled as a B rank mission, and thus you shall be paid an adequate amount. I hope to see you again for more missions."

The blonde punched the air in excitement before walking out, the rest of the team soon followed.

* * *

Shimura Danzo locked his single eye on to his operative," Since it has been over a week I want a status report."

Shin looked up from his kneeling position," Uzumaki Naruto has an unknown Kekkei Genkai by the name of **Koton**, do not let the name deceive you as Naruto has the ability to implement other metals he comes in contact with."**  
**

"Any possibility to recreate? Can he pass it down to a child?"

"I do not know."

The elder sat down and picked up a cup of tea," How about the girl? I know she has come into possession of an artifact created by the sage."

"Yes, she has a sword called Toge Bara that was made by the sage. It has an extremely lethal poison inside of it with only one cure. It cannot be stolen since it chooses it's wielders."

"The mission reports states that she killed a chunin level ninja from Kiri, is there anything of interest that she has? Hiruzen once had an interest in her, but I could never find out why."

Shin stiffened for a second, if Danzo found out about the **Yumeochi **Yakumo would probably go missing within the next two hours. And experimented to death.

But Danzo was his master...

Shin took a breath," No Danzo, I injured her opponent gravely, she has no special abilities to her."


	10. Chapter 10

**Nothin is mine.**

* * *

**Around the time I am writing this Naruto has just ended, I assume that the number of fanfics will take a temporary rise before dwindling down. I have been following the series for almost ten years and have accumulated many ideas, which I will probably get to sometime. But at the moment I still have this to do. Also in regards tho the ending of the series, I personally liked it. Naruto seemed to lose his go lucky personality that saved the world though. But in regards to a fifteen year adventure I(ten for me) I found it very satisfying.**

* * *

**Steel Will**

**Chapter 10**

* * *

_'Adapt to survive,_

_It is not who the strongest man is..._

_nor who the smartest man is..._

_but the ones most responsive to change.  
_

_Only those men shall live another day.'_

_\- Uchiha __Madara's __famous words at the battle of searing storm._

* * *

Naruto was bored.

Scratch that- all of team three were bored.

After an exciting mission dangerous enough to be labeled 'B' rank, the team craved more excitement then just petty household chores. Or even tedious C rank missions of delivering a message or hunting a wild animal.

So instead of D ranks Tenzo decided for some more training.

The entire team knew that if it wasn't for Sutemu, a civilian with no shinobi training, they very well could have been killed in the trees around Akai Bara.

Defeated chunin or not, the win was pure luck and not much else. If those ninja were anymore professional they would of never messed around or have arrogance.

With Shin's secret out of the bag, and after another trip to the hokages office, team three didn't have much secrets to share with each other. They could now properly gauge there teammates abilities and compensate for there shortcomings.

The training started with water walking, which Shin quickly skipped out of because he can turn into water, Naruto knew it too, so Tenzo took the liberty of hurling various objects at the blonde while he was water walking to practice a combat situation.

Yakumo, being a genjutsu specialist, quickly learned the ability in about 5 minutes without getting wet.

Tenzo praised the Hokage for giving him such a gifted team.

There was one issue though...

The swords.

Yakumo had the Toge Bara, Naruto had the White Fang, and even Shin showed up with a tanto and a Fuuma shuriken one day.

Not that Tenzo wasn't well versed in the weapon, since it was standard training for ROOT to learn, he never really needed to use a tanto often due to the power of his **Mokuton**.

He knew many powerful sword master in Konoha due to his days in ANBU, but many of them were either still in the shadowy organization or just regular acquaintances that he didn't feel comfortable asking.

Even though the wood user has been trying to open up lately he still doesn't have many good friends, there is still one person that Tenzo trusts completely...

* * *

"Well would you look at that, what's up Woody!"

Tenzo sighed at Kakashi's affectionate (at least that's what he says) nickname, which was one of many unfortunately.

"Hey there Kakashi-senpai"(**a Japanese honorific relating to superior or someone more experienced, for example someone who has been doing the same job as you for a much longer time,kohai is the opposite, like someone who just started a job. I'm not a personal fan of honorifics but sometime it is called for.)  
**

Tenzo looked back at his students, Naruto was looking at Kakashi with a bright smile, Yakumo was looking at him like he was a weirdo, and Shin was giving a fake smile since he was probably already briefed on the white haired man.

The blonde started to run to the man," Oh my god Kakashi! You got to hear about the mission we just went on! It was so awesome! And some asshole stole my sword and Yakumo got a..." Kakashi gave one of his eye smiles at the blondes enthusiasm.

He patted the boy on the head,"Calm down Naruto, we can talk about this later ok? I'm sure 'Yamato' wanted to speak to me for a reason."

Tenzo spoke,"I was wondering if you can help my students with their kenjutsu, they all seemed to have picked it up and your much better at it then I am.

"That is so nice of you, but I kinda have my own issues to take care of." The white haired man turned his head to look at the rest of training ground seven before yelling," Come out little ducklings, mama duck has something to tell you!"

Yakumo and Shin blinked while Tenzo sighed at Kakashi's term for his team, Naruto laughed.

Soon a group of two glaring teens and the unbelievably creepy kid walked over to them. Sasuke and Sakura examined team three and Sai simply walked over to his brother.

Shin smiled and patted his brother on the shoulder.

Sakura spoke,"Yes sensei?"

"Well then my little students, I have decided to help my kohai's students with some training and-"

He was cut off by Sasuke,"Your gonna help them train? You barley trained us at all!"

Kakashi laughed a little before addressing the Uchiha," My my! No need to be so testy! While I help them Yamato here can help you guys. You know what! lets have some joint training for a few days."

Tenzo quickly spoke up," Umm I am not so sure that-"

"I know you don't want to intrude, but I insist!"

Tenzo sighed, maybe he should have asked someone else.

* * *

Team three and seven, now united, sat together as there teachers talked about their training.

Which was pretty much Tenzo doing the talking while Kakashi read his perverted book and grunted, giggling occasionally.

Naruto decided to address the team," So guys... what's up?

"Shut up Naruto" That was Sakura, who still seemed to hate him from the academy.

"What did I ever do to you? I'd like to say I'm a nice guy."

"You sound like our sensei, which alone is enough to dislike you."

Naruto sighed, of course he was like Kakashi, the man practically raised him! Of course he acted a bit like him.

The blonde spoke again,"So 'ducklings' what training has Kakashi put you through?"

The normal(in a way) people on the team glared at him for the remark before, surprisingly, Sasuke spoke, "He hasn't taught us anything of use other then tree walking, he also comes at least two hours late every time we meet. Then when he does come he smothers us with stupid chores."

Sasuke noticed that everyone was looking at him strangely, "What?"

Naruto spoke,"I have never seen you talk so much before, and frankly it's kinda scary to see so much words come out of your mouth."

Sasuke decided to fall back on his usual noise,"Hn.'

"That's better"

Sai and Shin seemed to be having their own little conversation, so Naruto decided to talk to Yakumo.

"What do you think about Kakashi?"

"Since you seem to like him so I shall keep an open mind, but at the moment he seems a bit...strange to me. The stories I have heard does not properly portray his personality."

"Yeah and that's the best part, he seems like some intimidating shinobi with what people say about him, but in reality he's a very nice guy.

"If you say so."

Naruto sighed at the lack of words.

* * *

Meanwhile the two adults were discreetly analyzing their teams.

Tenzo broke the relative silence," Both you and Naruto are a bit too alike."

"And why is that?"

Tenzo looked at Kakashi before shrugging,"You both have your ninja 'modes' I guess. Your all stupid and immature when in leisure but when the battle starts you have the personality of a shinobi."

"A ninja are suppose to act a certain way?" The man was giving Tenzo a curious look.

"When Naruto first became a shinobi he tried to be serious, but after the ice was broken with his team he lightened up. I guess his other 'mode' will come out in battle too."

To Tenzo's surprise Kakashi chuckled,"Oh Tenzo... you don't see things like I have and not learn stuff. I don't act the way I do because I'm a shinobi. I do it because I'm Hatake Kakashi all the time, not the Copy ninja. Some times the situation derives for some maturity and sometimes it doesn't. I've been trying to implement that into Naruto."

"You want him to be more of a person then a shinobi?"

"Yes."

Tenzo broke eye contact and looked at the group of children,"It might be fatal to bring a child into a shinobi battle."

Kakashi stood up," In a battle I don't want a shinobi covering my back... or even a child covering my back-"

He began to walk.

"-I want a man covering my back."

Tenzo frowned slightly

* * *

Naruto flinched when Kakashi and Tenzo appeared in front of him and the other genin.

Kakashi gave the eye smile and spoke,"So kids, Tenzo will be teaching team seven how to water walk and I'll be doing some kenjutsu with team three."

Sasuke had a scowl on his face as he realized his teacher is teaching good stuff to someone else. But he complied and walked with Tenzo as water walking is pretty helpful.

Sakura seemed disturbed at the thought of getting wet, she seemed to mumble about her makeup getting smeared.

Sai just gave his fake smile and walked without an emotion on his face.

As team three left Naruto couldn't help but ask Shin something," If Sai is your brother does that mean he is a Hozuki too? Can he do that water thing?"

Shin looked at the blonde and also saw that Yakumo was paying attention," Sai is an adoptive brother of mine, I treat him like blood though."

Kakashi cleared his throat and the three children immediately focused their attention on him.

Kakashi crossed his finger in a plus like shape,"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" Three clones of Kakashi appeared before the genin. Each one of the clones pulled out a kunai before walking to different spots around the field.

"Each one of you will practice with my clones, do you know how **Kage Bunshins** work?"

Yakumo and Shin both nodded, you can't be on a team with Naruto and not know about the technique. And of course Naruto nodded, **Kage Bunshin** being one of his favorite moves.

The white haired man nodded slightly," My clones will try to fix forms and sloppy moves at the moment, I can't help you improve if I don't know how you fight."

Yakumo raised an eyebrow,"You created three clones... what are you, the original, going to do?"

Kakashi pulled out his perverted book, one of the Icha Icha series, and opened it," I'm going to read this and enjoy myself by that tree over there, so try not to make any loud noises."

Yakumo tried to be unbiased towards the man by his first impressions. Naruto said he was good on the inside and she wanted to give him a chance...

...But at the moment she was giving the man a red hot glare.

Shin just blinked while Naruto sighed at the older mans antics.

* * *

Naruto took a deep breath as he eyed his opponent, like a hawk.

His opponent merely yawned.

Naruto lunged, since the clones head was slightly raised because of the yawn. Using the opening the blonde drew the White Fang and channeled his chakra through it. The blade glowed a palish blue color before Naruto brought in down, hoping to cut the clone in half vertically.

The clone sidestepped.

Naruto landed in a crouch and swiped his blade to the side, which was blocked by kunai.

If it was a normal sword Naruto could channel metal through it to extend it and impale the enemy in the stomach.

But the White fang was to mixed, to much high level materials that if Naruto messed up and ruined the composition of the blade, he could never fix it. Also it was a pure kenjutsu battle.

Naruto tried to stab the blade forward only to fail miserably as the clone jumped in the air and used the blonde's head as a springboard. Painfully sending Naruto to the ground.

He scrambled up and glared at the white haired man," That was so unorthodox! Your just trying to embarrass me!"

"I have no idea what your saying. That was a proper ninja tactic!"

Naruto rushed again, and right before he was about to hit Kakashi's outstretched kunai, stopped suddenly. He jumped into the air and tried to kick the clone in the head only for it to duck, Naruto flipped midair and ended up with his head pointing downwards. Attempting to use his new found reach to stab the man in the back.

He did not expect the older man to lean to the side so that he was almost touching the ground, centimeters between him and the ground. The blade completely missed, Naruto landed again in a crouch, he looked around only to not see his opponent.

He then heard a voice behind him,"**Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi(Konohagakure's Most Secret and Sacred Technique: One Thousand Years of Death)!"**

Kakashi channeled fire chakra to his finger tips as he prepared to hit the blonde right in the rectum, but before the deadly technique hit metal shot out of the blonde back and the clones finger jammed against the makeshift shield.

With the impact of the fingers against solid iron, the clones hands broke and it dispelled. Naruto fell to the ground slightly sweating with fear, the blonde sighed in relief before retracting the metal.

The real Kakashi received the memories of the clone and laughed a little, he got up and walked from his relaxing spot to look at the boy.

He saw Naruto hunched over on the ground and slowly approached," You ok?"

The blonde looked at him and laughed nervously," That was just WAY to close you know?"

"Yeah I guess" The white haired man heard an noise and saw his team walking back into the clearing," I gotta check on them ok?'

The blonde nodded and the older man was gone.

Naruto sighed in relief as he looked down, his hands were a deep grey color.

He whispered quietly,"Come on... go away you stupid metal, stop ruining my hands."

The blonde started concentrating as hard as he could and the metal slowly started to fade.

The blonde wiped his hair line before walking to the now converged group.

* * *

When Naruto looked at the team he noticed Sasuke soaking wet, with a deep scowl on his face. Sakura seem to have water go up to her mid calfs, but otherwise fine. Sai was not even wet, maybe he knew it already.

He couldn't help but address the team in a teasing voice," So, it looks like only two of the 'ducklings' can swim..."

Sasuke went red in anger and, surprisingly, Sai spoke,"Since Sakura is so disgusting I guess she is an ugly duckling, unfortunately Ugly will never get pretty like in the folk tale."

Now to members of team seven were red with anger, with the look Sakura had on her face Naruto could only wonder how fearless the pale boy is.

Before a smack down could happen Yamato spoke," Team seven seemed to pick up the exercise quickly, I'm impressed."

Kakashi nodded," Yes and I fixed many flaws in your teams form."

Suddenly Kakashi's lone eye widened,"You know what! Let's have a joint mission tomorrow! A C rank!"

Tenzo brought up his arms and started shaking them hopelessly," No no no! We're fine!-"

"Nonsense! The kids will enjoy it! See you tomorrow at eight ok bye!" The man vanished as the sentence ended.

Tenzo swore quietly before walking off.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head before speaking,"So... see you tomorrow?"

"Shut up Naruto" The voices of Sakura, Sasuke, and even Yakumo spoke.

* * *

**Kawa no Kuni(Land of Rivers) **was a medium sized country southwest of **H****i no Kuni,** where Konoha was located. The country was located between Fire and Wind which held **Sunagakure(Village hidden in the Sand)**, Konoha's closest ally.

Because of that both Fire and Wind has a treaty allowing free passing and trade through their country, it also allows ninjas of both hidden villages to operate without aggression.

The combined forces of team three and seven made their way towards the town of Katabami, a small mining village that produces large amounts of gold.

The owner of a small restaurant by the name of Sansho reported that her town was overrun by bandits trying to take over the gold mines to make a profit.

Sansho was offering her home/business for shelter and meals while they take care of the issue.

The Konoha intelligence was a bit iffy about this mission. Saying that the gang taking over the village, which Sansho called the K. Family, have crossed their radar before.

The Hokage respectfully dismissed them, he argued that the combined force of Tenzo and Kakashi is more then enough for bandits, even if they were an advanced group of bandits.

Naruto looked down as they crossed a creaky bridge over, yet another, river. It was no wonder that the land was named after those, there was a river to cross every few kilometers.

Even with the ability to walk on water was in there arsenal, falling through one of the many high bridges into the water will either break their legs and or necks from impact, or they will be swept up from the current and drown.

The recurring lesson from the children's instructors is that the elements always win.

Though Shin is convinced he can survive the fall with his special ability.

As they made their way over the bridge Kakashi broke the groups silence,"Look over there. That is Katabami village, lets go and get into our cover."

Their cover was disguises, if the bandits completely taken over the village then there was a chance of captives. The sight of ninja can easily make the bandits worry and cause a hostage situation to derive, which nobody wants.

The issue was that they were going to become a very unique group of civilians, the easiest route would be a civilian family but Sakura refused to dye her hair and Kakashi refused to take of his mask.

The plan was to become restaurant connoisseurs, Sansho owned a mildly famous eatery called the "Curry of Life Shop' probaly for their main dish, curry.

Naruto took his forehead protector and put it into an inside pocket of his coat along with his kunai sheath from his thigh, he took out the white fang and closed his eyes. Metal shot out of is back and slowly wrapped around the White Fang until it was in a cocoon, the cocoon started to morph into a walking stick.

The idea as that Naruto injured his leg on the way to the village and his foot was still weak.

The Toge Bara was retracted and merely looked like an ornate statue or souvenir, Yakumo had it sticking out of her backpack for easy reach.

Shin, being the last one with a weapon, merely took the folded Fuuma shuriken and put it in his bag. He left his tanto at home.

Sasuke had one long cargo pants instead of shorts, his holster and forehead protector in one of the many pockets, he still had his Uchiha shirt on as his clan isn't as... prominent nowadays. So the chance of it being recognized is low.

Sakura was practically a civilian, not much was done.

Tenzo had his vest underneath a green jacket, his gear in the vest.

Kakashi was in a similar fashion instead with a grey jacket, he had an eye patch over his Sharingan eye. The mask was still on despite protests of the team.

While Naruto inspected the team he couldn't help but frown.

Shin noticed it,"What wrong Naruto?"

Naruto looked down,"What about our feet?"

"What with out feet?"

"We have the open toed shinobi sandals on, only ninja wear those. And don't get me started on the bandages around our thighs! Why do we even have those? Every ninja in the world has them and nobody knows why! Anybody with common sense can tell who ninja are by their feet!"

Kakashi sighed,"Naruto."

"Yes?"

"Stop talking."

* * *

Naruto's little rant actually cemented the idea of them being civilian as they entered the village, real ninja are seen as silent and deadly. A group of loud little kids and strange looking adults don't really personify trained killers.

It was obvious something happened in town, the buildings had run marks and trash in front of them, the people seemed paranoid and jumpy, and there wasn't a single smile around.

The Curry of Life shop was an easy find, with a small windmill in the front and the shops name plastered in big red letters.

As the group neared Naruto felt his nostrils burn from the powerful scent the shop emitted, he felt himself gagging as he hunched over a little.

Kakashi patted him on his back,"Put your left hand in a fist with your left thumb inside of it, then squeeze, that should lower your gag reflex so you don't throw up.

Naruto complied and started to stand straight again, he noticed the other children doing it too.

He spoke,"What is that?"

Tenzo, being an avid reader of mission reports, responded,"The specialty of this shop is said to be very spicy, the ingredients must be what the smell is."

A bell chimed as they walked through the door, a voice soon called from another room,"Hello there! I'll be right out!"

Kakashi spoke back,"Is that Sansho? We're from Konoha."

After a few seconds a door opened and the burning scent spiked for a moment, Naruto turned his head a away for a moment until the door closed, when it did he looked at Sansho.

He saw an older woman with... a protective suit? It was a dark black rubber apron and gloves with long sleeves, rubber boots, and thick protective goggles.

The woman gasped before starting to take the clothes of,"Excuse me."

When the woman was properly revealed Naruto got a better look at her, she had a yellow hat sort of resembling a beret, two long white bangs framed her face and was tied at the end, orange short sleeve tunic, and thick circular glasses on her face.

She looked very...old.

She smiled,"Welcome there visitors, please sit down while I get you some refreshments and food."

The team sat down on one of the larger tables at the restaurant while Sansho walked into the backroom, which was probably a kitchen.

After a few minutes the older woman came out with a cart filled with food and drinks. she rolled it up to the shinobi," Please take what you want."

Naruto took some rice and started to eat, he saw Tenzo take the rice with curry.

Tenzo was having a little debate in his mind, surely it wasn't as spicy as they say...right?

Tenzo decided to try it and ate some.

Seconds later he grabbed his throat and started to make a coughing sound.

Sansho laughed heartily, not realizing that most of the ninja in front of her just drew their weapons and was on edge.

After a few seconds Tenzo waved his arms in front of him, trying to disarm the shinobi,"It's just really hot, burning my throat." He managed to rasp out.

The tensed shinobi secretly holstered their weapons, Naruto looked at the curry in curiosity.

"Hey Sansho, what is in this curry?"

"It is a special mix of ingredients with special abilities, I can't tell you because you might try to recreate the recipe and I'll loose business."

"What's the special ability?"

"It can completely renew the strength of an injured or weak person. Their strength can be fully rejuvenated."

Both Kakashi and Tenzo had thoughtful looks on their faces, if the curry could really do that then it could be a great asset to Konoha.

They where caught out of their thoughts by Sai, who took some of the curry and ate it. He didn't even flinch as he chewed and swallowed the meal.

He spoke,"That was very good, I appreciate spicy meals." If Sai noticed Tenzo's incredulous look he ignored it.

Naruto couldn't stop a mischievous smile from forming,"Ok guys and gals, lets have a little game then... lets all try to eat all of this stuff and see who lasts the longest. The winner can skip watch duty on the way back to Konoha."

He paused before speaking again," Sai, I hate to say this but I don't think you can play. Since we need someone to referee this." In reality Naruto knew Sai would win if he played.

Sai gave a fake smile and nodded.

Sansho smiled, but on the inside felt some anguish.

They might not even be alive for watch duty, in fact they might not even set off for Konoha because of her.

* * *

"Damn it Sasuke! How the hell did you do that!?"

That was Naruto, who was currently on the floor drinking out of a gallon milk jug. Shin and Sakura were both unconscious across the room. Yakumo was sitting on her seat sweating, trying and slightly succeeding in looking dignified.

Kakashi put down his book and watched the children in amusement as he decided not to eat.

Naruto, who managed to get second place, glared at the last Uchiha. The dark haired boy had a completely clean plate in front of him.

Sasuke smirked,"What do you mean?"

Naruto's glare seem to intensify at the smirk,"It's like eating liquid fire! How could you eat that!?"

"One of my techniques is the **Gōkakyū no Jutsu(Grand Fireball Technique)**."

"So?"

"I shoot a giant stream of fire out of my mouth, you think that doesn't hurt at all?"

Naruto wisely decided to shut his mouth, unable to comprehend the pain tolerance required for fire techniques.

* * *

After the meal the group slept. In the morning they all converged into the eating room again.

Sansho gave them the details of how a group of criminals by the name of 'Kurosuki Family' barged into town and swiftly took over, taking control of the gold mines and using it to make money. They were apparently a ruthless gang that had no issue hurting people to get their points across.

Tenzo swore he heard the name Kurosuki before, before dismissing that the intelligence division of Konoha was where he got it from.

The team decided that some recon in there civilian disguises might be best. A straight up charge could put innocents in the crossfire.

Naruto, Shin, and Kakashi were currently walking through the town square, heading towards the gold mines. While the rest of the team were in shops and bars, looking for information.

"Halt!" The voice came from behind them, it was a member of the Kurosuki family. He had a small beard, generic face, and bandages wrapped around his head like a bandanna.

Kakshi merely eye smiled,"Yes?"

"Who are you? I've never seen you before."

Kakashi chuckled," I'm just taking my son and his best friend to Suna, we decided to stop by here on the way." He gestured Shin as his son due to the similarities of hair color and the fact the man couldn't see Kakashi's face.

"Where are you from?"

"We are from The land of Hot Water, but I decided to take my son and his friend, who I took under my wing, to Suna to live with relatives."

"If you say so..."

Another voice rang out," Moppu! We're going drinking!"

The ninjas eyes tracked the approaching man. He had a square face with brown chin length hair with a ponytail sticking out, a beard, and dark eyes.

But what caught their attention was what he was wearing...

On his head was a bandanna style forehead protector with the Kiri symbol on it, a slash going through it.

Moppu smiled," My good friend Akebino Jinin! It's good to see you!"

At the name Kakashi stiffened, he slowly tried to take the boys and lead them away.

Jinin looked at the trio,"Who are you?"

Kakashi turned around and nervously laughed,"Hi there! We were just leaving! Right?" '_please let us go, please let us go'_

The man examined Kakashi's face a little before his eyes widened,"You!"

'_Shit...'_

The man lunged at Kakashi, the silver haired man grabbed the two adolescents before jumping away.

Jinin activated a seal on his hand and two objects appeared in his hand.

A giant hammer and a giant ax.

He seethed,"Why is Hatake Kakashi in my village?"

Moppu paled.

Kakashi laughed again before speaking again,

"Good to know one of the **Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū(**Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist) ****recognizes me."

At the information both Naruto and Shin's eyes widened.

Jinin chucked maliciously,"Wait 'till Raiga hears about this."

Kakashi groaned,"There's two of you?"

The man didn't answer as he rushed at Kakashi with his weapons, the copy cat jumped away again with the children.

Jinin smirked a little," Not two...three."

Kakashi wanted to go home and cry in a corner.


	11. Chapter 11

**Nothin is mine.**

* * *

**In regards to the last chapter it might of been a little rushed, I was excited about the showdown between the swordsman and Konoha. Also I didn't have the identity of the final mist swordsman either. It was either the guy with the exploding sword or the needle guy.**

**Also I'm pretty sure I stated that I dislike writing author notes, and here I am writing one every chapter.**

**So, I just got 1k into the chapter when I accidentally CTRL+W which exits a tab in chrome. Fuck...I didn't save.**

* * *

**Steel Will**

**Chapter 11**

* * *

_I once thought to myself,_

_'Why do I fight?'_

_I used to think that a lot._

_And then I'd look back to the children walking right behind me and think,_

_'Oh yeah, that's what I fight for...'_

_-Minato Namikaze on his genin team._

* * *

Kakashi couldn't believe his rotten luck.

'_Damn it Obito! You should have left me to be crushed! Then I wouldn't have to deal with this...'__  
_

The fact that it wasn't one swordsman, nor two swordsman, it was three swordsman.

Fucking three!

There was only seven of them! And almost half of them had to be here.

Kakashi was sure he could take one, two if he was lucky, but three?

Three was suicide.

Kakashi cursed, THREE!

The white haired man ducked to dodge the ax going towards his head.

That wasn't even a sword! It was an ax and a hammer! How does that even count as a sword?

He saw Jinin growling at him as he continued to onslaught him with blows.

Why was there so much anger? Kakashi decided to vocalize that thought," Why are you so mad at me? I'd like to say I am a very respectable, dignified, and beautiful person. Why would someone be angry with person like me?"

"Because of that damn eye of yours! Why would some normal guy voluntarily become a freak!? That eye is so disgusting!" The man was practically foaming at the mouth.

Kakashi cursed again, of course Jinin was an avid supporter of the bloodline purges. He just had to hate everything with a Kekkei Genkai.

And Konoha, who never had a very good relationship with Kiri, just happened to send the most genetically diverse team they had.

Five bloodlines on the team, six if Naruto's is considers a bloodline.

Speaking of Naruto, the blonde quickly dismantled the shell around the White Fang and created three **Kage Bunshin **and had them jump the swordsman.

The distraction let Kakashi to jump back and prepare, he took of his coat to reveal his vest, and then ripped of the eye patch, his now awoken Sharingan spinning.

Jinin dispatched the clones and looked at Kakashi, snarling at the sight of the mystical eye.

Kakashi took a few steps back so he was aligned with the boys," Ok Naruto..."

"Yes?"

"We need to regroup, distract him."

"I got you"

Naruto crossed his fingers,"**Kage Bunshin Barrage!**"

Naruto created hundreds of clones that lunged at the swordsman, while Jinin fended off the clones the Konoha team ran away to regroup.

As they looked in the direction of the other team all they saw was smoke in the distance...

* * *

Sakura sighed as she sat on a bench, Yamato was inside a building behind her collecting information.

She was sitting with Sasuke, her true love, outside a bar.

Sai and Yakumo where going around stores trying to get information on higher ups in the Kurosuki Family.

Sakura didn't go because all the stores had crappy clothing, there was one really cute dress, but it the team insisted it was too expensive.

The Haruno family was loaded... why would she care about money?

She wish she had the dress, Sasuke would have never stopped staring.

She turned her head and looked at the boy of her dreams. Sasuke just wanted to sit down and she was happy to sit by him. She licked her lips as she saw him move a lock or hair out of his face.

Sasuke, as if noticing her, moved away to the end of the bench.

Sakura sighed, even after being on the same team for weeks he still didn't talk to her.

Why was he so shy with his feelings? Didn't he know that she felt the same way too?

Sakura heard the door next to her open and looked to her side.

She eyed the man in disgust, he was so ugly! He had the top of his head bandaged, with a blue headband around his forehead, god the white and blue went so bad with his hair and eyes! His brown hair had two bangs that framed his face, beads by the bottom. He had a beard that separated into two long strands, more green beads in the beard too.

For the love of Tobirama Senju that man needed a makeover!

Sakura sighed at the thought of Nidaime Hokage, he was so good looking! Almost as good as her Sasuke. Any one of those males would make a fine husband.

The man looked at her,"What is a girl like you doing by a bar?"

She sighed,"My escort is getting a drink inside, he said walking with a bunch of kids is tiring." She stayed in cover, which was being a part of a noble family. She immediately jumped at the idea since she kinda already is, well in her opinion.

When she married Sasuke she would definitely be part of a noble family.

The man looked at her curiously," I didn't see anybody with pink hair inside of there... actually I don't think I have ever seen someone with pink hair, pink eyes, but not hair. It's actually really strange looking."

Sakura glared at the man. He was making fun of her beautiful, luscious, sexy hair!

"Who do you think you are? Why are you even annoying me? And what is that ugly thing your are carrying?"

The man had a giant cylinder on his back, It wasn't a sword or any other weapon Sakura recognized. It just looked like a giant scroll on a stick, frankly it looked stupid.

The man chuckled," The name is Munashi Jinpachi, and I am waiting for some of my friends to come, and this thing is called **Shibuki(Splash)**, but I sometimes call it the Splatter."

Sakura ignored the information of the object and immediately went in for an insult, "Someone like you has friends?"

Sakura saw Sasuke giving her the 'abort' sign with his hands, it was the sign only Konoha ninjas know and it changes every once in a while.

She ignored him, she would show Sasuke that she meant business!

Jinpachi laughed,"You saying I have no friends? Who has any honor with hair like that? I mean any bandit can see you from miles away! Your a prime target!"

Sakura stood up angrily,"Just so you know my mom is a civilian council member!"

"Of what town?"

A smug grin came to Sakura's face," My mom is part of the _Konoha _council, she's kind of a big thing."

"Konoha?" Jinpachi seemed shocked, while Sasuke begged Sakura to stop mentally, they could still salvage their cover with a bit of acting.

The pink haired girls temper flared,"Yeah Konoha! And saying I'm can't protect myself!? I graduated top **Kunoichi(Female Ninja) **of the Konoha academy and was skilled enough to be chosen for this infiltration mission!"

Sasuke could only stare, mouth agape, at the girls words. His mind couldn't comprehend what just happened.

'H_ow could such stupidity be possible? Just hearing those words makes me wish Itachi had killed me...'_

Jinin seemed to be having similar thoughts as he stared at the girl in shock, after a few moments he opened his mouth and spoke slowly,

"Your a ninja from Konoha sent to infiltrate the Kurosuki family?"

Sakura nodded smugly, then she stopped...

How did he know they where here for the Kurosuki Family?

She looked at the ugly headband and her heart stopped.

It was the** Kirigakure** headband with a slash through it.

The man slowly took of the Splatter of his back,"Did you know that I was once part of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist?"

Sasuke paled as he grabbed Sakura, he started pulling her away right as the man swung his sword.

The scroll part unraveled revealing hundreds of explosive notes...

The spot Sakura was just sitting at exploded in a ball of fire.

* * *

Tenzo heard Sakura yelling and put down his drink.

"I'll be right back." he told the bartender as he walked away.

As he approached the door he heard a male voice speaking,"Did you know that I was once part of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist?"

Tenzo's mind registered that right before the door, and most of the bars entrance, exploded.

If it wasn't for his flak jacket underneath his jacket Tenzo would of died, most of the wood splinters hit his abdominal areas.

Tenzo got up and cursed the stinging in his arms and legs from shrapnel. Luckily it was wood so he merely took control of it and made it exit his body.

Tenzo took off his ruined jacket as he saw the people in the bar fleeing for cover. He noticed a head of bright pink hair and started to run after it. Tenzo saw Jinpach pursuing before falling on the ground.

Confused he turned his head slightly to see Yakumo holding her hands in a hand seal. She probably disoriented him with a genjutsu, he started to make his way over to her and noticed Sai too.

He yelled to the both of them,"Come on! We got to get to Safe House D!"

The teens nodded as they ran away from the broken bar.

* * *

Safe Jouse D was a small cave by one of the many rivers surrounding the village.

It was always wise to have a fail safe in case an infiltration went wrong. Out of the four hiding places Team Konoha (now dubbed) found, safe house D was the best.

As Naruto and his little group approached it they noticed Tenzo, Sai, and Yakumo heading towards it too.

They quickly met up, Kakashi spoke,"What happened."

Tenzo spoke back,"Enemy ninja, one of the Seven Swordsman."

"Same here."

Naruto looked around before frowning,"What happened to Sakura and Sasuke?"

Right as Tenzo opened his mouth, but before he could speak the group heard yelling.

Not just any regular yelling, it was...Sasuke yelling?

The ran up to the safe house and pushed away the plants covering the entrance.

Inside the fairly large cave was a seething Sasuke who was pacing around angrily. And Sakura, who was crying in a corner.

Sasuke glared at the shaking girl," How fucking stupid can you be? I mean- AAH! I can not believe you just did that! You just compromised the entire mission! We could of been killed if I wasn't fast enough! How could I be put on a team with you? First I thought you were just weak, but now I realize you much more then weak or useless! You are an disgrace to all kunoichi out there! Your a liability to the Leaf!"

Kakashi quickly went up to the dark haired boy and patted his shoulder, Sasuke tensed before realizing who it was, he relaxed slightly,"Thank god." The boy sounded relieved.

Kakashi looked at the crying Sakura before addressing the Uchiha,"What happened? Why are you so angry?"

Sasuke looked at the girl and growled," My _teammate_." He spat that word with disgust,"Wisely decided to insult some man, even though he had a Kiri headband on. She then got angry for him calling her hair strange and started going off at him. She was bragging that her mother was a civilian council member and that she was top kunoichi of the academy. She then declared that she was infiltrating the town for Konoha."

Naruto and most of the team couldn't help but stare at the sniveling girl in shock, that couldn't be possible... there is no way someone, especially a kunoichi, could do that.

Kakashi went up to the girl and patted her on the head,"It's ok Sakura, people make mistakes all the time... When I was an ANBU captain I used to make mistakes that got my teammates killed. Don't cry, it's not the end of the world."

Tenzo knew the man was lying, not a single person died under Kakashi's command when he was in ANBU.

Sasuke snorted," Not the end of the world? It could very well be the end of our lives... if we make our way out of this I am going to make petition for Sakura's expulsion from the ninja program."

Kakashi glared at Sasuke as Sakura started to cry harder, Naruto took the message and grabbed the dark haired boy by the shoulder. He pulled the boy out.

* * *

Safe house C was a little up the river from D, it was a larger cave with a waterfall in it. The cave was very spacious and beautiful but too loud. If anyone was looking there was a chance they could hear it.

Naruto threw Sasuke in and jumped down. The Uchiha scrambled up and glared at Naruto,"The Hell are you doing!?"

Naruto growled,"What are you doing? Yelling at Sakura like that?"

"What are you saying? Do you realize what she did?"

Naruto and Sasuke were currently having a face off, each of them with threatening poses as the waterfall raged behind them.

Naruto yelled,"Yes she messed up badly, but what right do you have to say that? She is part of the team and we can't have her emotionally unstable like you are!"

Angry, Sasuke charged at the blonde, he went to punch the blonde in the face but the blonde merely brought his reinforced hand up to catch the punch.

As the fist collided with the open palm Sasuke felt a deep pain in his hand. He fell back, yelling in pain. Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the collar and punched him in the face painfully.

He spoke," Look, I don't really know who you are, or what your story is. And frankly I could give two shits about you, but your good, and we're going to need all the help we can get to get out of this alive. And your stupid spoiled princess attitude is putting the entire team at risk."

Sasuke growled as he stood up,"Yeah you don't know me! My fucking brother killed my entire clan! All of them dead in one night. The reason? He wanted to test his abilities! The ANBU captain that could of picked up a S rank mission at any time decided killing his family is much more demanding. Children, elderly, his parents... all of that didn't matter and I'm all that's left! I need to bring justice for my family! I can't die yet!"

Naruto eyed the boy," I said I didn't give a shit and I still don't even after your sob story.."

Sasuke began to charge, his anger blocking all rational thoughts, he moved sloppily only to get kicked in the stomach.

"Sasuke, you think no one understands you, and it's partly true. But do you think that people haven't gone through similar issues? You think your the only one who the gods give a damn about? Life is stupid and your just gonna have to deal with it. Your little fantasy of killing your brother can only apply if your alive."

Sasuke stood up again, but didn't charge, he seemed to be in thought,"Do you really believe that I'm not the only one?"

"Your probably not the only one with a psychotic brother, but having a crazy brother who killed your entire clan? Might of happened before, but not on the scale of the Uchiha. Problem wise, suck it up. Kakashi had his dad commit suicide when he was five, Yamato was a lab rat for his entire early childhood, and Sakura's forehead is the size of the moon!"

Sasuke looked at the waterfall smirking a little, he wiped a bit of blood of his lower lip before looking straight into the blondes eyes," What about you then?"

"Sasuke you have no idea how fucked up I really am..."

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke's little heart to heart, or more appropriately called fist to face, seemed to calm the Uchiha down.

A they walked into the cave ten minutes later, they noticed all eyes on them. Even Sakura who seemed to stop crying.

Sasuke eyed the pink haired girl,"I apologize for the anger, but don't do something that stupid again."

At the words Sakura's eyes widened before nodding multiple times.

Both Kakashi and Tenzo shot Naruto grateful looks before Kakashi, being the undecided team leader, cleared his throat. The group all converged into the center of Safe House D.

Once in the middle Tenzo held his arms up and a circular table appeared from the ground, a few feet from the table there where wooden chairs. The group huddled around the table without the chairs since they all needed to see. Tenzo took out a map of Katabami along with a map of the Elemental Nations while Kakashi took out a bingo book, where information on wanted shinobi are kept. Tenzo laid the map on the table while Kakashi tore out three pages.

The three pages where on the swordsman.

Tenzo spoke up," While Naruto and Sasuke were...busy. I had an **Doton Kage Bunshin(Earth Release Shadow Clone) **go underground to scout the area. The swordsman don't want us to escape and have blocked all the bridges out. They also put increased security here and here, along with manned sentry towers."

Tenzo circled specific parts of map, the three main bridges leaving the town, which was surrounded by gorges, where blocked.

Shin spoke up," The bridges face north, east, and west. We can cross out north since that leads into **Ame(Rain)**, but to the east is Konoha and to the west is Suna, who will help us if they see us in trouble.

Sakura looked at the map before giving her own opinion,"Suna is too barren, we can't effectively hide in the sand like their native ninja can, we have the home field advantage in the trees." Sakura smiled shyly under the approving glances.

Kakashi rubbed his chin before speaking,"Yes, while we do have the advantage in the trees there is one issue, the Land of Fire is landlocked, so we constantly need ninja patrolling the entire border. While wind country only needs to guard the north and north east sides of there border. The chances of finding allies is easier in Wind."

Naruto hummed for a moment,"Why can't we use a sneak attack in the town, if we can take one of them out before they realize Kakashi and Yamato together can take them out while us genin take out the bandits."

Yakumo looked at the blonde before pointing to a bingo book entry,"The swordsman I saw, Munashi Jinpachi, has a sword called Splash, which is basically a sword packed with explosive notes. The amount of collateral damage he could cause it too great of a risk for the villagers."

Sasuke took the marker and circles a gorge on the west side of town,"Right here is where the gorge is the thinnest, who needs a bridge when we are shinobi? We can merely make a bridge."

Kakashi ruffled Sasuke's hair,"Good job Sasuke! That's genius!" The Uchiha tried to seem angry at the hair ruffle, but smirked at the praise.

Sai finally decided to speak,"What about the mission?"

"Eh?"

"Sansho hired us to clear out the bandit infestation, even though they are ninja the swordsman are still bandits."

Kakashi frowned under his mask,"Sansho lied to us, and the mission payment isn't high enough for the job at hand. I personally, rather be reading my book back home then fighting top class ninja."

Yakumo spoke once more," The issue is that the swordsman are top class ninja, no ninja in this land can compete with the three of them. With gold mines under their control they have funding, with their talents they have power. What's going to stop them from taking over River country. The last thing we need is another Hanzo the Salamander trying to make his country a major player."

Yakumo's words had weight to them, the meaning hit each person pretty hard. A new order would come to River if the swordsman are kept unchecked. The last thing the world needed was another overzealous nation trying to be tough. The second great shinobi war was caused by Ame trying to use their new founded muscle.

Kakashi had a thoughtful expression on his face, that nobody could see, and after a few moments he spoke,

"Lets pay Sansho a visit."

* * *

Sansho looked out her window in remorse, she noticed the smoke from the village a few hours ago, the ninja she hired where probably dead.

She was brought out of her sad thoughts by a rumbling noise, she looked to her dining room to see the floor caving in. Sansho ran to investigate right as a giant hole appeared in her dining room. Out of the hole she heard voice,

"**Doton:Tunneling Technique(There was no Japanese name)**."

To Sansho's surprise a head of brown hair popped out, followed by blonde, pink, black, white...

The Konoha ninja where alive.

And possibly angry...

Kakashi popped up and gave an eye smile," Hello there Sansho! How are you doing? We need to discuss some things but first you need to make us some food!"

Sansho gulped.

* * *

Kakashi stared at the old lady,

"So your saying that your young son decided it was cool to join the Kurosuki Family... and that you lied about the mission parameters because you though an elite ninja would just kill your innocent son."

Sansho, who was shaking due to the amount of blades pointed at her, nodded frantically.

Kakashi sighed,"Damn stereotypes."

He got up and looked at his comrades before looking back at the old lady,"Sansho let me tell you something, there is nothing more dangerous then a man trying to protect something he cares about."

Naruto, and probably most of team Konoha, felt a little warm that Kakashi felt that way.

Sansho spoke in a meager voice," What is going to happen to me?"

Kakashi looked at the plate of curry in front of him," Oh we're going to help you, those ninja will die and your son will be safe, but price wise... that's going to need some renegotiation."

Sansho shifted uncomfortable, it was expected when Naruto, Sasuke, and Yakumo where all huddled around her with sharp objects. She spoke quietly," I don't have much money..."

"We don't want your money, we want the curry."

"What?"

"Sansho, have your heard of a soldier pill? Probably not so I'll tell you. When a ninja is exhausted physically and chakra wise, they could take a soldier pill. The pills stimulate the chakra system and gives you a major boost in energy. The side affect is that large consumption can damage muscle and the chakra circulatory system."

Sansho seemed to realize where this was going...

"And since your curry can apparently 'completely rejuvenate someone' I assume Konoha will soon receive an improved version of the soldier pill."

"But my business!"

"I don't give a damn about your business! And you don't have to worry, these pills will be for ninja in life threatening situations, you'll be saving lives."

Sansho looked defeated, but Kakashi wasn't done.

"But first we have to test it, and if it doesn't work we leave immediately."

Sansho snapped her head towards him,"What!?"

Kakashi ignored her and Tenzo took the stage,"Sakura here just had a very traumatic incident happen to her, when the mind is weakened so is the body. Nothing physically happened to her but she is exhausted. Her muscles are sore and she lacks energy. So she's going to try some curry."

Sansho stiffly nodded, the entire village and fate of her son was about to be decided by a girl with pink hair.

Sakura gulped at the thought of eating the curry again, but she had to keep the ruthless shinobi attitude. She nonchalantly took a spoonful of it and put it in her mouth, followed by more spoonfuls. She painfully chewed it and when she swallowed she suddenly felt a rush of energy in her, her eyes widened as she stood up and smiled.

Sansho sighed in relief,"See?"

Sakura turned to her team,"It's good, beyond good."

Kakashi looked at Sansho,"Deal?"

Sansho looked down for a while, before looking up with a new resolve in her eyes," I will try to make some prototypes for your confrontation with the Kurosuki Family."

Kakashi and the rest of team Konoha smirked. They got a proper payment for their job.

There was only one issue though...

How were they going to kill the swordsman?

* * *

Team Konoha was currently sitting in Sansho's dining room, the little set up from Safe House D was moved to a table and the hole in the floor was covered by a trap door made by Tenzo.

Team Konoha was currently trying to find a way to kill the swordsman without casualties.

The idea of rushing the swordsman when they don't expect it was stupid, they could could kill them, but at the cost of most of the genins lives. And the two jonin alone couldn't fight the swordsman and fend of the gang akone. It needed to be a complete team effort in an organized fashion.

Plus they had to take the civilians into account too.

Luckily they already had a plan.

They just had to improvise a little.

Naruto smiled as he finished his drawing, the shop had a chalk board to show off special meals. And Naruto decided to lighten the mood to help morale.

"Hey guys, I got the briefing all worked out!" The rest of Team Konoha looked towards him and saw the chalkboard...

* * *

**_WHEN FACING THE SEVEN SWORDSMEN OF THE MIST PLEASE FOLLOW THE PROPER COURSE OF ACTION..._**

_1\. LOCATE SAID SWORDSMEN_

_2\. TAKE A DEEP BREATH_

_3\. OWN SOME BITCHES_

_MADE BY NARUTO UZUMAKI, FUTURE HOKAGE AND CERTIFIED BADASS._

* * *

Sansho eyed the chalkboard and looked at the ninja incredulously,"No offense but i think that plan will get you all killed."

"What do you mean? I think it's a good plan." Naruto seemed defensive of his plan."

"It just sounds dum, it's a good joke but for combat? I'm not a ninja but it seems stupid."

All eight shinobi looked at Sansho like she was crazy, before Sasuke spoke," You do know that this is basically our plan put into simpler words."

Sansho felt scared for her town.

* * *

"No sir we have not located the Konoha ninja yet."

Kurosuki Raiga frowned, he can't have enemies running around his village.

When Jinin stormed in angrily Raiga tried to avoid his comrade, fearing for his safety, but Jinin insisted to speak to him. Saying that the Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi was in town.

Raiga was cut out of his shock by Jinpachi, the long haired man said he saw multiple Konoha ninja's by the bar and that one of them mentioned infiltrating the family.

Raiga cursed, if a ninja as famous as Kakashi was here that meant Konoha meant business. Raiga couldn't even think the thought of his family collapsing, he was the official leader. He wasn't the leader because of strength, Jinin and Jinpach were stronger then him, but passion was why he led the family. The other swordsman could hardly care about the gang, they merely wanted a place to live, while Raiga wanted what he never had being an orphan in Kiri...

A family...

Raiga dismissed the family member, whose name was Karashi, with a flick of his hand. He was deep in thought for a moment before sitting up.

He walked into a room with a minibar, Jinin and Jinpachi where there having there drink. He walked up to them,

"Gear up, we're going to take care of issue before it grows."

Jinin sighed but complied, the swordsman walked out of their headquarters with their swords on the backs and intentions to kill in the minds.

* * *

**A bit small, but meh. I really wanted to finish this chapter.**

**My agenda is to implement more of a flow to each chapter, it doesn't have to be long.I want to aim for filling chapters with more substance.**

**Shit goes down next chapter. If things go according to plan I should have a long one done by Friday or Saturday.**

**P.S I still dislike author notes.**

**Till next time.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Nothin is mine.**

* * *

**So, I got Assassins Creed Unity the day it came out at midnight, I decided a download was the best course of action. 54 hours later on a PS4 it finally allowed me to play. Any body reading this that feels like getting AC Unity, buy the disc because the download is bullshit. Regarding the game people says it is terrible, which I personally disagree with, moments with in the story had me saying 'oh my god' or 'holy shit!' which is actually pretty tough to do since I am usually very composed.**

**Time for a more story related topic, I do not have a very detailed map of this chapter filled out yet. It's not all writers block, mostly character development involving skills and weapons, which I guess is writers block. There is also another character who I want to introduce but I haven't decided. To be completely honest I was going to introduce someone but I forgot who it was. And now, two days after the last sentence, while I'm writing this, I just remembered. Strange huh?**

* * *

**Steel Will**

**Chapter 12**

* * *

_We are not heroes..._

_We are killers._

_We fight not for honor or glory..._

_We fight because we have a very particular set of talents..._

_We are killing machines._

_Never forget that._

_-Chimeiteki Rida, the founder of the Seven Swordsman_

* * *

_Thumping footsteps where heard._

_Birds flew out of the tree canopies, as if sensing a threat._

_The footsteps started to slowly soften._

_The dense tree line started to decay down into nothingness._

_A head of blonde hair stared out into an empty desert._

* * *

Naruto took a deep breath as he looked down, his hands were shaking intensely.

Plan 'Three Blind Mice' was about to go into play. And if everything goes right Team Konoha should be home by tomorrow.

Though those blind mice where members of the Seven Swordsmen.

Naruto's entire body started to shake at the thought.

Some might ask why the blonde was so scared, sure the swordsmen where famous, but surely they wasn't as powerful as Hashirama Senju or the Yellow flash.

But to Naruto they were giants, Naruto was a beginner in title and skill compared to the swordsmen. Even Hanabira was an amateur when put next to even the weakest member of the Seven Swordsmen. The swordsmen where master blade wielders with any blade. The unique swords they held was only an upgrade to their unparalleled Kenjutsu mastery.

Naruto knew that he wouldn't do much against them, It was up to Kakashi and Tenzo to take them out.

Naruto looked around the Curry of Life Shop, his team was almost done packing.

Defeat the grunts and cover the jonin, Naruto repeatedly said that in his mind.

* * *

_Blonde hair trudged though the scorching desert._

_The sun was relentless_

_The blonde hair came over a slightly larger sand dune only to see..._

_...Nothing._

_The blonde hair kept walking._

* * *

Naruto had the 'feeling' in his chest.

The deep anticipation and fear that echoes in your heart when something is about to happen.

Jumping through the trees Naruto made sure he didn't miss a branch with his numb limbs, the battle was approaching and he couldn't afford to injure himself.

Naruto was in the back of Team Konoha, so he could only see the back of his teammates heads.

If he saw the front he would probably be discouraged, he could sense the same worried expression on all of his peers faces. Even Kakashi, a seasoned veteran, was having bad thoughts running trough his mind. What if the plan goes wrong? What'll happen if there is another ninja? What happens if the swordsmen where expecting them?

Positivity was not possible, the stakes where too high for jokes and laughter.

This wasn't fun and games, their lives were dependent on a half assed plan made at the last second.

The biggest gamble of their lives was about to come into play.

* * *

_Blonde hair kept walking, not giving up._

_It went over another sand dune... then another..._

_Then another..._

_Another..._

_Another..._

_After another identical sand dune the blonde hair was knocked off balanced by a strong breeze._

_The blonde hair had a smile on it's face as it fell down_

* * *

Raiga walked around the tree line, he was at the edge of the village by the gold mines. Konoha ninja were known to hide in trees, the chances of them being there where high.

He had the other swordsmen with him, Kakashi was not an enemy to fight alone. Raiga knew that the Copy Ninja had fought members of the Seven Swordsmen during the war.

Raiga stared down at the quarry next to him, it was large and he could see gold lining the bottom, so much money in one place.

Raiga's trained senses tingled as he snapped his head back towards the trees, he swore he felt something.

He cautiously took steps forward.

* * *

Naruto suppressed a gasp as he watched Raiga, swords drawn, advance towards the trees. AKA Team Konoha's hiding spot.

The man was approaching Shin at an alarming rate.

Naruto could only watch in horror as the swordsman got closer and closer to his teammate. Shin's breathing started to increases rapidly and the Hozuki desperately tried to reign it. Raiga got closer and closer to Shin, he was only a meter away from the bush Shin was hiding in...

Naruto saw a hand reach up from the ground and grab Shin's ankles. Luckily Shin didn't make a noise as Tenzo pulled him underneath the earth.

A few feet behind Naruto was where the duo reappeared quietly, they both were prone in a small bush.

Raiga turned his head around,"Hey guys! Lets search the forest!"

To the entries groups suprise the other swordsmen started to approach. They could have taken out Raiga if he only waked a few steps further. Now the chance of weakening them at the start was over.

Naruto saw the grunts of the Kurosuki Family start to approach, many of them scared of the prospect of ninja.

He felt light tapping on his leg and used all his will power to not jump at the surprise.

Naruto knew what that was, it was a small piece of wood extending out of the tree, Tenzo created them so the team leader, Kakashi, can relay orders to him.

The wood started to tap him, and no doubt the other members of Team Konoha, in a Konoha version of Morse code.

When the message stopped Naruto ran it through his mind.

_WAIT FOR ALL MEMBERS TO APPROACH. AMBUSH ON MARK. AIM FOR SWORDSMEN._

The happy attitude Kakashi usually had was completely gone, replaced by the efficient former leader of ANBU.

Naruto stopped his hands from shaking, they started to turn grey as Naruto channeled his chakra into them. He closed his eyes and swallowed the lump in his throat.

He was trained for this, he could do it.

He saw a brief twitch of movement before he launched himself towards the group.

* * *

In less then half a second the Kurosuki family where ambushed by Konoha nin.

* * *

Sasuke forced his eyes to stay open as he rushed at Jinpachi, they both locked eyes before the older male jumped away, Sasuke couldn't stop with his momentum. Instead he focused on another target.

Sasuke could not comprehend how a kunai he always carried with him could cut a throat. There was little resistance as he tore through skin, muscles, tendons, and cartilage. He felt the warm blood splash on his face and left side as he kept moving.

He saw himself approaching another unimportant member of the Family. He wanted to stop so desperately, but he couldn't.

Sasuke moved his kunai forward and he ran into another man, stabbing him in the chest.

The force toplled them over, and Sasuke found himself on top of the dying man, slowly watching as the man opened his mouth, a small wheeze came out before the man died. The dead mans eyes locking onto to his. Sasuke stayed there for a moment, completely forgetting about the ambush raging behind him.

He slowly reached up and shut the mans eyes, breathing heavily.

Sasuke didn't know what all the fuss about killing was, life was going to end sometime, he never understood why people were so traumatized because of their first kill.

Sasuke understood now.

That man could have a family, just like he did. Did that man deserve to die? Just because he was part of a bad group? Some may argue that the Kurosuki Family is nothing but a smaller Konoha.

Was Sasuke like Itachi because he took someone away from his family? Was he like Itachi since he wanted to wipe out the Kurosuki family just like his brother wiped out the Uchiha?

If Sasuke couldn't bear the thought of killing one man then how could Itachi kill his entire family?

Sasuke turned around and started to rush back to the ambush, he can't let thoughts about Itachi cloud his mind, he couldn't confront his brother if he was dead.

* * *

As the ambush raged on most of the grunts where killed off, unfortunately there was one big issue...

All of the swordsmen where alive.

The swordsmen were trained masters in the art of silent killing, ending your enemy with a level of stealth and efficiency so skilled that victim would never know that they died. A rag tag ambush couldn't take them down, especially one of such a low caliber.

The showdown didn't last a few seconds, ninjas locked eyes and quickly jumped away, the forest life fled at the rapid movement of humans.

Naruto ran away with the children of team Konoha, unfortunately the swordsmen decided to take out the weaker links first, all three of then were following the adolescents.

Sai quickly took out a scroll and started to furiously scribble on it, moments later animal drawing sprung out of the scroll and rushed towards the enemies, Naruto wondered how that could happen, Sai created an animated life with his chakra and ink, was it Fuinjutsu?

Naruto quickly drowned the thought as he crossed his fingers and created multiple **Kage Bunshins **to distract the enemy.

Jinin, already having a deep anger from confronting Kakashi earlier, easily doged the clones and went straight in for the kill.

He was kicked in the face moments later, the group looked to see Kakashi standing there, Tenzo followed seconds after.

Kakashi eyed the blood on his sleeve distastefully," Really? Those lackeys can really bleed, they almost got some of their blood on my book! You got to teach some manners to your family!"

The Kurosuki family growled at the thought of their dead comrades, Raiga was holding his swords, the **Lighning Fangs**, his anger caused them to spark ominously

Kakashi rubbed his head nervously as he watched Jinpachi unrolling The Splatter, he gulped before looking at his team.

"Genin get the grunts, Tenzo you got the swordsmen with me." He left no room for argument, the group nodded and a moment of silence enveloped them before the battle started.

* * *

_The blonde head looked to his sides._

_He was running back to the forest._

_And he was not alone..._

* * *

Naruto ducked to dodge a blow aiming for his head.

The man he was battling was very clumsy and inexperienced with a sword, Naruto assumed this was his first time using one in combat.

Naruto saw the fear on the mans face as he swung his sword around randomly, most of them couldn't even kill if they hit the blonde. Naruto decided to end the fight quickly, the reason was that it was embarrassing for HIM that he had to battle such a lackluster, actually not even a tiny bit of luster, swordsman.

The man went in for a stab that would of pierced Naruto's shoulder, but the blonde reached his hand up and smacked the sword away with an open palm. The power of the slap caused the man to let go of his weapon and the piece of metal flew a few feet away.

Naruto sighed and looked at he fallen man,"You do realize that the sword was made out of mostly gold right?"

"Huh?"

Naruto couldn't believe that a man didn't know what his weapon was made out of,"Gold might be the specially of this town, but that is only for value. Gold is probably one of- if not the worst material to make a sword out of. If you would have hit me with the flat of your blade the entire sword would probably bend."

The man started to shiver with fear,"Please don't kill me...please."

"It depends... are you Karashi?"

"What?"

"Your name."

"What do you mean? You want to know my name before you kill me? Please don't!"

Naruto's annoyance grew even larger at the stupid man, he tried to compose himself,.

"What. Is. Your. Fucking. Name." Naruto glared at the man,"If you don't talk in seven point two seconds I will make you balls blow up with chakra."

Naruto couldn't do that, but the crappy swordsman didn't need to know. The man almost had tears leaking out of his eyes, Naruto took a step forward threateningly and the man yelled.

"Karashi! My name is Karashi!" The man started to cry,"I don't want to die! I never wanted this to happen! I'm sorry!"

Naruto walked up to the man, who cowered in fear,"Your mother sent us to 'save' you. And while I personally think your an idiot piece of dung, your mother disagrees. So run home right now or else." Naruto felt bad for being so mean, but the idiot was just so... stupid. Literally that man had nothing going for him, he tried to be tough and failed completely, the mean shinobi act was the only way to get to him.

Karashi still needed his mother to take care of him, pathetic as Sasuke would say.

Said pathetic man quickly stood up and ran away, Naruto sighed as he watched him abandon his comrades, he was now worse the trash.

Naruto turned around only to have his jaw drop...

* * *

The black tornado?

What would Kumo, a prominently darker skinned country, say about that?

Literally it was five guys, white guys, stacked on top of each other, with claws sticking out of their gloves. Not that it was scary in any way but...

How could Raiga, a former member of the Seven Swordsmen, allow such a hideous tactic to be made? How could something called the black tornado be effective?

It was like all the teenagers thinking that putting black or death in front of their names made it cooler. Nightmare Death Dark Fox of Doom? That sounded more like a goth band then a ruthless killer. That's why Naruto liked the Fourth Hokage, the man made the color yellow so badass entire nations were scared of it.

Naruto had to shake himself out of his thoughts as he approached Sasuke," The hell are we doing about this, there's two of those...tornado things."

Sasuke eyed the tornadoes, who where just standing there smiling creepily,"I guess one each? I'm not quite sure how to handle this. They seem confident in the formation but... it seems to stupid to seem true."

Naruto readied the White Fang as he started to near a Tornado, to his surprise they started to spin at an alarming rate, one of the Tornadoes went after the blonde, who dodged the strike. To Naruto and Sasuke's surprise the tornado proceeded to head into a tree and cut straight through it.

Naruto looked at his dark haired companion,"I...I just don't understand anything anymore... how is that even possible?"

Sasuke didn't reply, he just sighed in annoyance.

* * *

_The blonde hair saw the tree line._

_The familiar feeling of the forest assaulted him._

_He savored the fresh air and the chirping of birds._

_The blonde head decided to ignore the surroundings, there was a job to do._

* * *

Sasuke jumped away from one of the black tornadoes, the speed these things can clock up to must be on par with a real tornado. How could their bodies handle the sudden shifts in movement? The organs of the tornado members must be bouncing around and hitting things. There has to be some case of internal bleeding.

The tornado stopped and Sasuke analyzed his opponents carefully. They seemed to be unperturbed by the spinning but Sasuke had above average eyesight, probably from being an Uchiha, he could make out slight creases on the face of the bottom and top members.

The bottom member was probably tired from the weight, while the top member must be dizzy from vertigo. The other members where not in any visible distress.

Sasuke frowned, if they can cut straight through trees and somewhat large boulders then how can he fight them? A stamina battle may not work since the men where bigger then Sasuke, and by proxy had more stamina.

Plus they were fast, to fast for five guys stacked ontop of each other...

Sasuke's frowned deepened at the previous thought, five guys on top of each other was disgusting.

He knew that it was his duty as a Shinobi of Konoha, and a sane (debatable) human being that he needed to stop the monstrosity that was the Black Tornado.

He looked at Naruto only to see the blonde jumping away from the other tornado.

Sasuke quickly ran by the blonde and stood next to them, preparing to battle the tornado duo.

They ever noticed the swordsman rushing towards them.

* * *

Yamato dodged a bolt of lightning heading towards him, Raiga's swords shot them out like it was nothing.

Though training with Kakashi made him accustomed with lightning.

Tenzo dodged yet another bolt, close quarter combat was suicide against one of the Seven Swordsmen, and Raiga was fast enough to dodge all of his ranged attacks.

It wasn't a win situation, he needed to find a weakness or find a different opponent.

He weaved through hand seals,"**Mokuton: Shichūrō no Jutsu(Wood Release: Four-Pillar Prison Technique)**!"

A giant wooden box formed around Raiga, effectively trapping him inside, Tenzo sighed in relief...

...Then lightning struck the box, Tenzo's eyes widened before he made a split second tactical decision.

GTFO, get the fuck out, not that Tenzo was outclassed, more like outmatched. And the cool epic story plot of overcoming all odds and weaknesses didn't apply in the real world. He would loose if he continued to fight Raiga.

Tenzo was jumping through the forest, his element, there was no way anyone could find him now.

Or course he spoke to soon, Tenzo soon felt eyes following him, he continued going straight before entering a field.

He ran towards the middle, no more hiding.

To his surprise four ninja jumped down, each with a mask donning the crest of the Land of Rivers.

It took a moment for Tenzo to recognize them, they where the only ninja legally part of River, hired by the daimyo to do his bidding. Basically a bootleg version of ANBU lacking the numbers, and possibly the skill.

Tenzo tapped his forehead protectors as the ninja drew their weapons.

"I'm a Konoha nin sent on a mission with my team, I have my papers with my team leader."

The group took steps forward, hostility clear.

Tenzo tried to reason," We ran into missing ninja, members of the Seven Swordsman. They are occupying one of your towns. We can team up before they threaten the daimyo."

Finally one of the members spoke,"We have no reported activity of any organized bandits, let alone members of the swordsmen, I think you're lying to us."

"You got to believe me!"

"I don't."

"We have a treaty! You can't just attack me!"

"We might have a non aggression treaty, but we saw you fleeing from a major economic part of our country, our goldmines. We cannot allow you to bring back information about our country. Nobody will ever find you anyways."

Tenzo swore as he got into a battle, leaving his team alone with the swordsmen.

* * *

Naruto only had a split second to turn around, seeing Jinpachi rushing towards him, The Splash was primed and ready to blow him and Sasuke to pieces.

All Naruto was do was stare in horror as his death approached him, there was no way he could get out of blast range in time, or harden himself. Sasuke managed to turn his head and see his approaching doom, to Naruto's surprise Sasuke grabbed him and dragged him to the ground.

Though that would do little against high powered explosives.

Both boys stared at Jinpachi, before something caught the corner of their eyes.

A figure ran in front of the outreached sword...

It was Shin.

Naruto's jaw dropped as he watched his teammate commit suicide by explosives, The Splatter hit the Hozuki and ignited, sending chunks of rocks and debris everywhere.

Jinpachi, unharmed and standing, blinked in confusion at the now dead boy.

He looked around the blast sight, as if replaying the moment in his mind. And there was one issue with the current situation.

There was no body, well... no chunks, not even the terrible gore smell left over.

Strangely there was only small puddles where the body should be.

Naruto was staring breathless, his numb mind slowly started to comprehend what happened, before a feeling of relief washed over him.

"Oh thank god... that ass..." His voice was a whisper.

Before Sasuke could ask what the blonde was talking about the puddles moved.

They started to converge into a single point where an humanoid shape started to form.

Jinpachi let out an enervated sigh," A Hozuki...of course there just happens to be one alive."

The figure, slowly becoming Shin, spoke," Can't get rid of me that easily, my **Kekkei Genkai **allows me to survive your sword."

Jinpachi let out a dry chuckle," One of our members was a Hozuki, he was the designated live practice dummy since we could never kill him."

Shin smirked," So you know you can't kill me?"

"No, It means that I know every way around your liquidation ability."

"Oh... well shit."

Shin tried to back up, Jinpachi took a threatening step forward before suddenly ducking. Sai's foot flew centimeters from the previous position of Jinpachi's head

Sai did a little flip before landing by his brother, he then turned around to face the swordsman.

Shin looked towards his other two comrades,"Hey guys, let me and my little brother handle this."

Naruto stood up," No way it's too much!"

"My ability allows me to survive, and Sai is a long distance fighter, ask Sasuke, his skills are perfect for this situation."

Naruto looked at the Uchiha, only to see him with a unreadable expression on his face,.

Naruto sighed, he knew he couldn't stop them from fighting, and Jinpachi wasn't going to sit through a drama,"Fine but be careful, we'll comeback when the tornadoes are done."

Shin nodded as the boys jumped off.

* * *

Naruto saw Kakashi in a close battle with Jinin, while Sakura and Yakumo where facing down with the tornadoes.

Well... more like Yakumo was doing the fighting while Sakura was running, while Sakura pulled through after her near fatal mistake it didn't help her combat ability. She was still pretty much useless.

Yakumo wasn't skilled enough to hit five people with a genjustu, especially ones moving so fast. So she concentrated on the bottom member, making him disoriented and steering him towards the other tornado.

Though she couldn't keep an eye on her fellow female and fight at the same time, one of the tornadoes curved around and approached the pink haired girl.

Sasuke rushed forward and pushed her out of the way, and somehow right after the dangerous maneuver looked towards the tornado.

And started to dodge every slash, easily leaning away from the elongated blades.

After the tornado passed Sasuke jumped away gracefully.

Sasuke stared at his hands for a moment,"Woah..."

Sasuke sensed Naruto approaching and looked at him.

Naruto stared at him,"Your eyes are red." Right before he jumped away and formed a shield around Yakumo, who was about to be hit by a tornado.

Sasuke tuned out of the battle for a moment, he had it finally...

The **Sharingan(Copy Wheel Eye)**, sure it wasn't fully developed but he was on his way. To live up to his families legacy, to rebuild the Uchiha reputation.

Sasuke smirked...

And then narrowly dodged a knife aiming for his head.

Maybe he shouldn't get distracted.

* * *

_Speed was key as the blonde ran._

_Being late meant death..._

* * *

The remains of Team Konoha ran through the forest, there wasn't enough space to fight the tornadoes.

As the exited the tree line they stopped for a moment to examine the sight, the Katabami gold mine.

It was a giant quarry with rocky terrain, multiple caves, and scaffolding around the edges.

Naruto immediately examined the strategic value of fighting there, the jagged floor would keep the swordsman from traveling. The bumps would trip them easily.

Naruto formed a long metal staff, he wasn't going to get close to the tornadoes. Yakumo was attempting to use a **Yumeochi **genjutsu on one of the tornadoes

The Kurama focused her mind, only concentrating on one of the tornadoes, genjutsu was nothing but the users imagination being implemented into another, whiles hers techniques involved making her imagination real.

Having a drawing helped keep her mind off actually thinking about the technique, allowing her to concentrate on gathering chakra.

But her artistic mind could already see a picture wanting to be formed, the scenery was too perfect.

In the thick clouds something sparked, before multiple blue sparks started to break the clouds surface. Yakumo yelled to her teammates,"Get away!"

Both boys hastily jumped away...

Then a giant bolt of lightning struck a tornado, burning all five of them to a crisp.

The charred bodies slowly fell in one big line, the other tornado watched as their comrades died.

Yakumo fell back panting, Sakura barely managed to catch her from behind. Naruto and Sasuke ran towards their tired comrade.

Sasuke looked at the bodies for a moment,"What did you do?"

"Struck them with lightning."

"How?"

Yakumo stood up," It doesn't matter, I can do it again..."

More lightning started to accumulate in the clouds, this time a significantly smaller bolt started to shoot down.

Only to be redirected, the lightning started to flow to the sides... and straight into the Lightning Fangs of Raiga Kurosuki.

A very angry Raiga Kurosuki appeared, he stood in front of his comrades seething, his blades where sparking intensely. His glare on the Konoha team was frightening.

"You want lightning huh? I'll fucking give you lightning!" With that he raised his swords to the sky...

And suddenly a loud boom was heard, thunder started to rumble at an alarming rate, the entire sky seemed to glow with power.

And then the largest bolt of lightning ever formed started to descend from the heavens, rapidly approaching the Konoha ninjas.

* * *

Kakashi dodged another blow from Jinin, who was just swinging at him constantly, Kakashi couldn't get out of the defensive, he kept having to dodge anger filled swings from the swordsman.

The **Sharingan **in his left eye allowed him to dodge Jinins blows with ease, and he managed to give some of his own hits in too.

But this battle could go on forever, and with the** Sharingan** constantly draining his chakra, Kakashi didn't feel confident in his win.

When the first lightning bolt struck not far from his position the grey haired man looked, it was possibly Raiga and his swords.

But the advanced smell Kakashi had could smell Naruto and his team in the same direction, in a battle like this he knew he had to think of the worst case scenario, Raiga was fighting his team.

He looked at Jinin and yelled,"Oi! Asshole!"

Jinin looked him in the eyes angrily, only to fall back clutching his head.

Simple optical genjutsu, ones that kill would take to much chakra, he needed to conserve if he had to save his team. The one he applied gave the victim a nasty headache. Kakashi was about to finish off the swordsman when he noticed another bolt of lightning form, he couldn't waste time.

He turned and ran.

* * *

_Blonde hair heard the rumbling in the sky._

_He was close..._

_And hopefully he wasn't late._

* * *

As Naruto saw what was coming for him he knew that all the crazy luck he had wouldn't help.

The bolt was massive, beyond massive.

Even Raiga seemed surprised at the size of the bolt, the surprise faded as he used all his strength to commandeer the bolt towards the children.

Naruto looked around desperately trying to find a way to live, the closest cave was still hundreds of feet away, no trenches or overhangs. Only primed killing grounds.

The light was so intense that the blonde fell back, half blinded. The other members of the broken Team Konoha fell back too, The hopelessness kicking in.

The limited sight Naruto had caught a flash of red, his mind practically shut down at the sight unfolding before him...

Out of the treeline came Kakashi, he jumped at the edge of the quarry and was practically flying, the speed was unreal.

Kakashi's arm started to light up...

Naruto knew what that was.

'_No fucking way...it's impossible!'_

Kakashi's **Sharingan** glowed red as his arm exploded with lightning, he approached the bolt and started to extend his arm.

Slowly it seemed like even the gods where watching as Kakashi got closer and closer to the bolt, and to the surprise of everyone...

He went straight through it, cutting the bolt in half.

The half below him merely dissipated, while the top half reaching into the clouds started to be sucked into Kakashi's technique.

Kakashi aimed his super charged technique towards Raiga, and started to approach him rapidly.

Raiga hurled himself away from his position as Kakashi neared.

When the white haired mans arm hit the ground a flashing light engulfed the area...

Before everything exploded.

The entire ground ruptured, the fissure reaching what looked like a hundred meters deep formed all the way to the edge of the quarry, Naruto could sense a large abundance of gold inside of the rift.

Raiga was breathing heavily he watched in fear as Kakashi stood up.

The copy Ninja spoke,"I call that **Raikiri... **Or _Lightning_ _Cutter_."

* * *

_Blonde hair watched the spectacle in awe._

_He was close._

* * *

Naruto knew that he, along with the other genin, just labeled Kakashi as the coolest most sexy guy who ever existed.

Kakashi landed near them," Are you alright?" His tone was full of concern.

"Kakashi?"

"Yes Naruto?"

Naruto gave him a strange look,"I love you."

Kakashi took comment in stride, he figured it was just Naruto, and then he noticed the other genin looking at him with the same look Naruto had, even Sasuke.

He rubbed the back of his neck,"You know it's just hero worship right?"

"I don't care, I love you."

"We can discuss love lives after we defeat the swordsmen.

As if on cue Jinin angrily landed near Raiga, the two were discussing something.

* * *

A bloody Yamato approached a small clearing in the woods, his eyes widened at the sight.

Shin, who was reforming, was running away from another explosion, while Sai was sending ink animals at his opponent.

Their opponent was Jinpachi.

Yamato quickly formed a wood wall in front of Jinpachi, blocking him from the genin.

Shin sighed in relief," Thank god sensei, where the hell have you been? And what happened to your clothes? Is that your blood?"

Yamato got near the boy,"Most of it isn't mine, we should regroup."

"I guess our team is where that insane bolt of lightning was."

"Probably."

* * *

_Blonde hair could hear voices._

* * *

The reformed Team Konoha talked quietly as the stood across from the reformed Kurosuki family.

Naruto spoke first,"Ok that ambush was shitty." He got no replies from that.

Kakashi ignored him,"It is an eight versus eight situation."

"Does that tornado count as five different people?"

"With claws like that I assume they can fight individually."

Kakashi cleared his throat,"The plan will be-"

Jinpachi rushed towards him before he could finish, the swordsmen weren't wasting any time.

Naruto ended up with Sai and Yakumo while the others were to their right. Naruto looked up to see Jinin coming at them.

Naruto created a shield in front of him and the others.

Jinin smirked," You think I can't break that? Get ready!"

Jinin hit the shield with the ax part, before raising the hammer, he brought the hammer down and hit the back of the ax.

Naruto felt his shield break

He looked up only to see...

'_Sand?'_

There was a sand shield keeping the sword from hitting the blonde, the sword seemed to be inches from Naruto's head.

* * *

_Blonde hair arrived in time._

* * *

The **Kage Bunshin **of Naruto disappeared in a cloud of smoke and the blonde was assaulted with memories, he looked behind him to see the reinforcements.

Two people counted as reinforcements right?

He stood up to address them," Hello there! Thank you for coming, did my clone brief you?"

The Suna ninja spoke," Your clone gave us a brief overview, I'm Temari and this is my brother Gaara."

Naruto smiled and nodded on the outside, while inwardly he examined both of them.

The blonde girl was pretty with her hair tied into four ponytails, she was a few years older then him and had some sort of black shape on her back. Some sort of weapon Naruto couldn't identify. The boy had bright red hair with light, very unique, greenish blue eyes, he had dark raccoon like circles around his eyes and a tattoo of the kanji 'love' on his forehead. A gourd on his back with sand coming out.

They weren't much, but Naruto had confidece they could turn the tide of this battle.

The girl spoke agin," You clone didn't tell us who you are facing though. Why is that?"

"Because we are facing three members of the Seven Swordsmen."

Temari's eyes widened,"You didn't tell us that!"

"Don't worry, we have our mentor, Kakashi Hatake here and someone equal in power to him."

Temari seemed surprise by the famous ninja's name, she looked to indeed see Kakashi fighting.

Gaara, who didn't seem very talkative, spoke," We will help."

Temari shot her brother a glance, before she sighed and nodded.

* * *

Naruto gave the sand duo a small briefing.

Temari examined the Black Tornado," I'm a wind user, I'll show them what a real tornado is." She reached for the weapon on her back, probably a tessen, a large battle fan for wind techniques.

Gaara opened his mouth, his raspy voice was easily heard,"I will help fight the swordsmen."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, they boy was small and didn't seem very powerful, but looks can be deceiving and if that boy can control sand he was a powerful force.

Naruto nodded before they regrouped with the rest of Team Konoha.

Naruto spoke with authority,"Gaara and I can fight Jinin, we might of found a way around his shield breaking, Temari here is fighting the tornado, someone can help her.

Suddenly two ninja jumped from the treeline, masks set on Tenzo.

Tenzo decided to speak,"I may of pissed of the daimyo's personal ninjas."

Kakashi looked at him,"How?"

"I wish I knew"

Tenzo looked at Sasuke,"They are not that powerful, I fought four at once, and those two are weakened."

Sasuke seemed to get the meaning he gestured to Sai and both of them ran off to meet the ninja.

* * *

Jinin seethed as he kept hitting the sand shield over and over.

Spit flew from his mouth as he yelled,"WHY WON'T YOU BREAAAAAK!."

Naruto, who was a safe distance away, spoke to him,"Because sand is dynamic, your weapon is for rigid unbendable shields, while Gaara can control every individual grain of sand. Constantly adjusting the shield to compensate for your sword.

While Jinin was looking at the blonde sand wrapped around his ankle and threw him in the air, Naruto took the cue and rushed towards the man with the White Fang.

Jinin brought up the ax to block the blow, Naruto jumped away and the sand tendril slammed the older man into the ground. Jinin got up with an impressive recovery rate, his topped off anger seemed to grow even larger.

"Damn you...you STUPID BRATS!"

* * *

Shin liquidized his arm and aimed it at Jinpachi, who he and Yamato were fighting, he shot out water and attempted to wrap it around the swordsman's body. Jinpachi merely hit the ground with The Splash, creating debris to block the waters path.

Jinpachi rushed at Shin, using the temporary break in sight to get close, Shin just reformed and Jinpachi knew it would be a few seconds before he could liquidize.

Shin's eyes widened as Yamato grabbed his other arm with wood and pulled him away, Shin went flying to the ground.

Yamato eyed his student, his senses flared and he turned his head to see Jinpachi a few feet away, he used Shin as a distraction.

Tenzo managed to bring up a wooden shield, but it did little against the blastsword. Tenzo was blown back, luckily he was still in one piece, he rolled a few feet before he laid there unmoving, only shifting slightly in pain.

Shin let out a distressed scream.

* * *

Naruto cursed as he saw what just happened.

He looked towards his red haired companion,"Gaara, I need to back up my team! You can do this right?"

Gaara nodded and Naruto was off.

Naruto almost slashed Jinpachi's back with the White Fang, but the older man dodged it.

Naruto soon realized he put himself in a terrible situation.

He then heard Yakumo,"Naruto! Over here!"

He turned to see a winded Yakumo holding something, she threw it at him and the blonde barely managed to catch it.

He looked at what was inside his open palm.

It was Yakumo's hair clip.

Naruto looked at it in confusion, what would Yakumo's gold hair clip do in this situation?"

Wait...

Yakumo's _gold _hair clip.

Naruto slowly absorbed it into his hand, and then he suddenly felt every single bit of gold around him.

He smirked as he brought up his arms, out of the crater Kakashi made a giant shape started to emerge.

Pure gold that Naruto could now control, he merely looked towards Jinpachi and multiple gold spires shot out of of the crevice.

Jinpachi tried to dodge but the there where too many, he attempted to destroy them but for every spire he destroyed five more would take its place.

Soon Jinpachi was completely surrounded, Naruto created cage around him, Naruto clenched his fist and Jinpachi was crushed.

The prison opened and the destroyed body of the swordsmen fell out, The Splatter landing by him.

A tendril of gold picked up the sword and delivered it to the blonde.

Naruto panted at the energy it took, he reached into his pouch and pulled out the experimental soldier pill, the blonde put it in his mouth and chewed.

After the burning subsided Naruto laughed a little as the power surged through him, he soon realized the situation he was in, he controlled the entire quarry now.

He looked at Temari facing the tornado and waved his hand, gold shot out and ruthlessly crushed the enemies, the monstrosity known as the Black Tornado was finally gone.

He looked at Sasuke and Sai, there was only one enemy left, and with one thought he was dead.

He looked at Raiga, who was looking back at him in shock.

So much shock that he didn't notice the **Raikiri **heading towards him.

* * *

Team Konoha stood across from the Suna duo.

Naruto shook Temari's hand, but not Gaara's since the boy was a few feet behind his sister,"Thank you for helping us."

Temari smirked," You are an ally of Suna, it's our job to help. But remember what we did alright?"

Kakashi chuckled,"We'll have the Hokage send a thank you, I'm sure our alliance will grow stronger because of your assistance."

* * *

"So...what now?"

Team Konoha just got off the last bridge, it was now smooth sailing all the way back to Konoha.

Tenzo looked at Naruto, who was the one to speak, and replied,"We go home, get debriefed, talk to the Hokage, and get a ton of money and praise for our actions."

Sakura looked down,"What about me?"

Kakashi looked at her," We have to include your blunder in our report."

"But...but you said it was O.K! Even Sasuke forgave me for my actions!"

Sasuke stared at his pink haired teammate," I forgave you because I had to. Proper team cohesion was needed to get out alive, just because Naruto punched me doesn't mean that all the anger towards you is gone. I won't write for you to be dropped as a ninja, but I still have no respect for you."

Sakura's gloom could practically be felt, Kakashi gave her an eye smile," Don't worry Sakura. When you are judged they will only think about the good things, your mistake will be shadowed by the swords and soldier pills next to you."

"So your not angry at me?"

"Oh I'm furious, and you will feel all my anger in our next training session."

Sasuke smirked,"So you'll actually train us? I think the **Raikiri **will make up for us being so under prepared for this mission."

Kakashi sighed," Your still going on about that?"

"It was the greatest thing I have ever seen." That sentence was very... un-Sasuke.

"Well you can't have it because I'm the next one to learn it right Kakashi?" Naruto was staring intently at the older man.

"Shut up midget! He's my jonin sensei, therefore I have the right to learn it before you!" Both boys were glaring at each other, sparks seemed to be traveling between them.

Sai spoke up for the first time,"Well since I am the most normal student I think I deserve to learn it."

Shin looked at his brother,"Sai?"

"Yes Shin?"

"You are the complete opposite of normal."

"Oh."

* * *

The Hokage looked at the swords on the floor in front of him, his eyes then trailed to his desk, where a small cluster of the new soldier pills where.

He eyes went to the ninja in front of him, they all seemed very pleased with their actions.

Hiruzen slowly took a pill of his desk and popped it in his mouth.

Team Konoha marveled how the Hokage could eat it with out even flinching.

The hokage stayed quiet for a few minutes, Team Konoha started to feel nervous.

Hiruzen spoke," I do not know what to classify this mission as, S-rank isn't only for difficulty, but for the most secret operations, information of S-ranks are always classified. But I want the world to know that two genin teams defeated three members of the Swordsmen."

He took a long puff of his pipe," The information of the pills will be classified, the pills we be transported and reverse-engineered in the R&amp;D department. The issues is that the swords will be subjected to multiple thieves, the blastsword should be kept in storage since we have no knowledge on how to use it without the users killing themselves. The Helmet Splitter seems to be difficult to use without a proper instructor too."

He looked at Kakashi," You have the lightning affinity right?"

"Yes sir."

"Take the Lightning Fangs."

Kakashi picked them up and weighed them, "I don't think they'll suit me."

He looked at Sasuke,"How about I give these to you and you can forget about learning the **Rakiri**?"

"But I want your technique..."

Kakashi shoved the swords into Sasuke's hands and then quickly waved to the Hokage,"I'll give my side of the report later, Yamato here can do the rest! See ya!" He then disappeared in a plume of smoke.

Yamato stood there, jaw agape. Sasuke looked at his new swords before smirking, he could work with these.

The Hokage waved his hand and a ANBU appeared, "Take the pills and go to R&amp;D, do not stop for anything?" The ANBU nodded and took the pills, disappearing moments later

Hiruzen looked to the rest of the Team Konoha," Your dismissed, I will have your payment delivered to your homes later."

The group nodded and left.

After the group left Hiruzen stood up, the buzz of the soldier pill running through him, he turned around and looked out his window, stretching his muscles.

A small smile adorned his face," The new generation is in good hands... maybe I can retire a bit earlier then expected".

* * *

**This took a week longer then expected, mostly because of AC Unity, also I wasn't very attached to this chapter. That means I didn't want to write it much.**

**I was going to do one more arc before wave, but I thought decided against it. A MAJOR part of the story is planned for wave and I can't ignore it any longer.**

**till next time**


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